Daniel Moore hails Hebburn Town striker Jake Charles after win at Blyth Spartans

Daniel Moore praised hat-trick hero Jake Charles after Hebburn Town rounded off their preparations for the National League North season with a 4-2 win at Blyth Spartans.

The two sides were level at the break as a brace from former Whitby Town striker Charles was sandwiched by efforts from Spartans duo Lucas Taylor and Rio Joisce. The Hornets frontman completed his hat-trick just before the hour-mark as he showed signs of hitting form ahead of next weekend’s historic home clash with Southport before Gildo Da Silva ended any doubt over the outcome of the game when he grabbed a fourth goal by making the most of good work from player-manager Moore.

The Hornets boss was pleased with Charles’ performance in his first pre-season with the club and believes the striker can be ‘a handful’ for defenders during the new season.

He told the club website: “We’ve had some really positive performances during pre-season. I think we’ve seen the best out of Jake today. We’ve worked with him, we have spoke to him about what the attributes we think he’s got. It’s probably taken a while for him to get to grips with what we want from him - but I think it suits his game probably more than he knew. I wish I’d have got him a few years ago because I think he is a handful when he plays like that.”

‘Some real positives’

It has been a largely positive pre-season for Moore and his players as they prepare to take Hebburn into the second tier of the non-league pyramid for the first time in their history. There will be sizeable tests lying ahead of they face the likes of South Shields, Morecambe and Darlington during the new campaign - but the Hornets players boss believes they will head into the season with ‘some real positives’ behind them.

He said: “I thought we were really good. It was good to see some of the things we’ve been working on in training. There were some real positives to take out of today and I am really pleased with that before next week.”

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