Mixed emotions for Hebburn Town boss despite thumping 13-0 win

The Hornets were in prolific form throughout the 90 minutes and the Northern League Division One leaders blitzed their Division Two opponents in devastating fashion.

Striker Luke Sullivan led the way with four goals, and there were two goals apiece for Olly Martin, Michael Richardson and Louis Storey.

Carl Taylor, Lewis Suddick and Ben Dibb-Fuller also found the target as Bolam’s side became the first in the club’s history to have seven different scorers in one game.

However, the Hornets manager praised his side for their performance – but revealed that he found the experience “difficult” due to his relationship with his counterparts in the home dugout.

He told The Gazette: “I am proud to be involved with setting a club record, it’s a part of history for the club.

“That’s something for the players, myself and Mick (Mulhern, assistant manager) to always have with us.

“But in a strange way, looking at Don Naylor and Paul Beat throughout the game, it was difficult.

“I know the Birtley coaches really well and I spent a bit of time with them after the game.

“It wasn’t nice to see them going through that and I hope they use it to progress.

“Paul loves the club; they’ve done so much there since they got back into the Northern League and I am sure they’ll move on and have a positive season to continue their progression.”

Bolam revealed that he challenged his players to match their impressive first-half display after they went into half-time with a six-goal lead.

They went one better with seven second-half goals to leave themselves at the top of the Group H table with a maximum six points.

Bolam said “A lot of people look and think the opposition were poor on the night, but I think it wouldn’t matter who we played last night, we would have won big.

“We could have scored more to be honest, but the vast majority of what we did throughout the game came off.

“We have threatened to do something like that a few times this season.

“At half time I asked the players to match what they had done in the first-half and, to be fair to them, they have gone out and surpassed that – that says a lot about their attitude.”

The Hornets return to Northern League action on Saturday when they host fifth-placed Newton Aycliffe on Saturday.