Hebburn Town continue superb run of form with victory over Crook Town

Town in recent games have started slowly, and in the first ten minutes, Crook made an energetic start to the game, but the Hornets back four looked solid as a rock.

Jason Blackburn found himself in some space and attempted a cheeky lob, but Crook’s keeper saved well, and shortly after, held on to a Chris Feasey effort from outside the box.

However, Feasey was not to be denied when Hebburn won a free-kick 20 yards from goal.

He stepped up and curled a delightful shot around the wall into the top corner with the keeper motionless to put the Hornets ahead.

Hebburn gained confidence from the goal and doubled their lead on the half hour mark when a goal-bound header from Chris Smith was blocked on the line, but the ever-alert Glen Hargrave pounced to force the ball home.

However, a breakaway almost caught the Hebburn defence out, when a speculative shot by Crook’s winger beat Steve Hubery, but the ball cannoned off the crossbar and was cleared.

After 65 minutes, Hebburn were stopped in their tracks somewhat when Hubery was judged to have fouled a Crook forward in the area.

Fortunately, he was to remain on the field to face the resulting penalty, which the Crook player ballooned over the bar.

With Hebburn remaining in control of the game, Scott Oliver was forced into a change of tactics when an off-the-ball incident resulted in the dismissal of striker Jason Blackburn.

This move in fact turned out to be a bonus for Hebburn when five minutes after the dismissal, Channon North chased a through ball and after blocking the keeper’s attempted clearance he ran the ball into the empty net to add to the score.

North then rounded the keeper and slotted home his second and the team’s fourth goal after 85 minutes.

The victory extended their run of victories to six and lifts them up to fifth place in the league.

Town now turn their attention to Saturday when they welcome Heaton Stannington, who are also an in-form side.