It was goals galore at Whitley Park as West Allotment Celtic cruised to a 8-4 victory over Easington Colliery on the last day of the season.
Gary Day was the star of the show grabbing four goals as already relegated Easington Colliery fell apart in what is being touted by many as Colliery’s final ever game. Day opened the scoring after just four minutes when a poor defensive header at the far post allowed him to turn the ball home from only two yards out. Easington did look threatening going forward and a long ball through resulted in an equaliser in the 11th minute as Carl Winspear beat Ames in the Allotment goal.
Neither side really had chance to catch their breath before Allotment had restored their lead. Tom Courtney in the Easington goal came but failed to collect the ball at the edge of his area under pressure from Allotment’s Liam Hudson, leaving the loose ball to be superbly lifted over his head and into the back of the net from 20 yards by the impressive Day.
Hudson himself grabbed a goal only a few minutes later and Allotment were leading 3-1 after only 15 minutes. A ball down the right hand channel was driven goalwards by Hudson and it flew past the goalkeeper, giving him the goal his excellent performance warranted.
A goalless period of 20 minutes then followed giving the watching spectators time to take in the end to end football they had just witnessed, but Easington soon scored again to make it 3-2 before Gary Day completed his hatrick after only 35 minutes giving Allotment a 4-2 lead. Allotment’s advantage was increased even further before the half time interval when Dean Lee’s 18 yard shot was fumbled by Easington goalkeeper Courtney to give Allotment 5-2 up at the break, a margin that adequately reflected Allotment’s dominance.
Half time didn’t stop the goals flowing, a goal from Chris Tarn giving Easington hope before Allotment’s Hutchinson got in on the act by scoring Allotment’s sixth of the afternoon. Gary Day ensured he would take home the match ball by grabbing his fourth of the afternoon and even a fourth Easington goal from Hayden Pace could not prevent Allotment securing the victory that would give them a seventh place finish.
Allotment’s substitutes rounded off a fantastic win by combining to score Celtic’s eight of the afternoon. George Johnstone looked threatening from the moment he came on and it was his excellent cross that was turned in by Martin Soulsby to put the finishing touches to emphatic Allotment victory. Manager Paul Stoneman must have been delighted with how dangerous Allotment looked going forward with signs that West Allotment Celtic now have a side that could challenge seriously for the Northern League Division Two title next season.