Last night, Newcastle Blue Star moved to the top of the Northern League Division Two – coming from behind to win 3-1 against a resilient Chester-le-Street United side.
Goals from Nelson Ogbewe, Michael Richardson and Ryan Carr handed ‘The Star’ their third win in a row, as their promotion push starts to ramp up.
Chester-le-Street arrived at Scotswood as firm underdogs, having endured a pretty mixed start to the season with three wins from their first 14 games.
Despite Chester-le-Street sitting twelve places below Blue Star heading into the fixture, they would dominate possession early on – pinging the ball about in very impressive fashion.
Blue Star struggled to deal with Chester-le-Street’s fast-flowing play throughout the first half and as the half wore, on the away side seemed more and more likely to score and eventually did so in the 37th minute, with a fantastic free kick from their number four nestling into the far corner.
In typical Blue Star fashion though, Brian Smith’s replied with a goal of their own just seven minutes later. Ogbewe would be the one to grab the equaliser, sliding his shot under the Chester-le-Street keeper, to give Blue Star a vital lifeline before the half-time break.
Chester-le-Street however would nearly reply with a hammer blow of their own just seconds before the half-time whistle, with their number seven just inches away from finding the back of the net.
Ultimately though, the sides would go into the half-time break level at 1-1.
Blue Star seemed to regroup at half-time and started the second half in much better fashion – eventually taking the lead in the 65th minute, thanks to a beautifully curled free-kick from Michael Richardson.
Despite going behind, Chester-le-Street remained competitive throughout and nearly equalised through their number four in the 71st minute, with another free kick.
The away side would make a final push for an equaliser in the final ten minutes but would get caught on the break by Blue Star, with Ryan Carr heading home in the 85th minute to make it 3-1.
Blue Star would then hold out for the win and come away with a well-fought three points, with their attention now turning to their top-of-the-table clash at Horden, this Saturday.