Newcastle Blue Star continued their journey on the winning trail with a comfortable 5-0 win against Seaton Delaval, making it eight wins on the bounce for the Scotswood side.
Dean Holmes set the tone of the game with an early goal after 15 minutes, with that goal then soon being followed by Dan Lanning’s 28th goal of the season, just four minutes later. Blue Star then found a third before half-time with Euan Anderson’s bullet header finding the back of the net after 36 minutes. Lanning then grabbed the match ball in the second half with two close range efforts in 49th and 65th minute, to round off the win.
Blue star headed into the fixture as favourites having only beaten Seaton Delaval, three weeks ago in the Team Valley Carpets Challenge final - defeating them 3-0. When it comes to the league table, the two sides could not be any different, as Blue Star top the table while Delaval fight for survival – sat 13th before the game.
The league leaders started the brighter of the two sides with an early chance falling there way in the fourth minute. Luke Carr would have hoped to have scored after the ball fell to his feet three yards out from goal, but to his disappointment he blazed his effort over the bar.
The home then started to find joy down the left-hand side with Ogbewe and Lanning causing problems for the Delaval right-back. This eventually led to an opening goal as after 15 minutes Blue Star took the lead with Holmes smashing home into an empty net after a smart cut back from Ogbewe.
Blue Star’s left-hand side was once again Delaval’s kryptonite as ‘The Star’ doubled their lead just four minutes later. In what could be described as clinical counterattack, Ogbewe raced forward and slotted Lanning in-behind, with the youngster’s left footed shot being too powerful for the Delaval goalkeeper.
In the 36th minute, Holmes then went from goalscorer to provider as his looping corner found Anderson at the back post, whose header arrowed into the top corner.
Despite going into the half-time break ahead 3-0, Blue Star may have been slightly frustrated at the fact they could have potentially had four or five before the half-time whistle - with chances falling to both Lanning and Ogbewe.
Blue Star started the second half in electric fashion finding a fourth goal just four minutes after the break. Holmes’ smart dummy left the ball for Lanning whose first effort was initially blocked but the forward ended up slotting home the rebound.
A fumble from the Delaval keeper then led to Lanning poking home his hattrick in the 65th minute, in the events that led to the goal however there was a clash of heads that left Luke Carr unconscious, with the midfielder having to be stretchered off the pitch and sent to hospital.
Play soon resumed, with Gary Ormston nearly adding a sixth for the home side in the 88th minute but his low driven effort was blocked on the line by the Delaval number three.
In what was a pretty frustrating afternoon for Delaval, they failed to create any real clear-cut opportunities throughout the game with the majority of their chances coming from speculative efforts from range.
Blue Star brung on a host of changes late on and eased through the last few minutes of the match, meaning they ended the game with a clean sheet, five goals and three points to their name.