Morpeth Town eased to a final day victory as they celebrated promotion to the Evo-Stik league with a 4-1 win against Seaham Red Star.
Mark Davison got the hosts off to a flier with a 12th minute header before Wayne Phillips pushed Town further ahead four minutes later. James Thompson reduced the arrears on 61 minutes but Liam Henderson put the game out of reach with a 73rd minute goal prior to adding a fourth from the spot on 83 minutes.
Morpeth were keen to score from the out-set and should have been ahead as early as the fourth minute when Joe Walton was given a clear sight of goal at the back post. But, following Chris McDonald’s low cross from the left, the winger could only hit the post when it seemed easier to score.
If he was a touch wasteful with his shooting then his creativity was second to none as it was his 12th minute cross which was looped into the back of the net by Davison. The striker showed superb awareness to guide his header into the far corner and give his side a deserved lead.
A one-goal advantage was quickly doubled by the hosts, who were assuming a dominant position early on in this one. Phillips was the man to get the goal, sending a superb strike into the top corner as Morpeth raced into a 2-0 lead after 16 minutes.
In control for large portions of this contest, Morpeth moved the ball with an impressive fluency on a slick surface which was only getting quicker on a miserably wet night at Craik Park.
Their next batch of chances came in the 25th minute when visiting keeper Declan Greenwood certainly earned his crust with two smart saves, firstly from Ben Sayer’s fierce strike before Walton’s close-range header was somehow kept out by the outstretched leg of the keeper.
He was a busy man in the Seaham goal and was next charging out to put Walton off as the midfielder attempted to lob the ball over the advancing stopper.
Morpeth were creating plenty by this point and Davison, a menace in the Seaham box, nearly registered his second of the match with a header that landed on the roof of the net in the 31st minute.
Robbie Bird reminded supporters of the threat of the visitors when he broke the offside trap, but his low effort was smothered by Morpeth stopper Karl Dryden a minute after Davison’s chance.
Despite that chance, Morpeth were well on top of proceedings with Walton finding plenty of space down the flank. As Seaham would discover in the second half, it would be more of the same as Town set up shop deep inside Red Star territory.
But it would be the visitors, on a rare foray forward, who would go closest to adding a goal to the evening’s tally on 56 minutes, Alex Ramshaw, just off the bench, striding clear of the hosts’ defence before sending a tame effort across goal and wide of the far post.
Morpeth failed to heed that warning and, from a similar position, Thompson was more clinical as his precise finish found a way past Dryden to reduce the deficit for Red Star.
Continuing to look measured in possession, The Highwaymen threatened to restore that previously held two-goal advantage on 64 minutes when Sean Taylor was denied by the legs of Greenwood before Davison had two shots blocked in a congested penalty area.
The chances were beginning to flow at both ends, with Seaham heads in hands two minutes later as Lee Hetherington gathered a spilled ball from Dryden before laying it to Bird, who side-footed wide with the net at his mercy.
Instead of being level on 73 minutes, the visitors would find themselves further behind as Henderson, only off the bench seconds before, lashed a shot from inside the area into the top corner.
The towering striker doubled his tally for the night from the spot on 83 minutes, slotting home a spot-kick after fellow sub Sam Norris was sent flying in the Seaham penalty area.
There was still time for Morpeth junior Simon Farrier to make his debut for the senior side, sending a rising 89th minute drive just over the top via the fingertips of Greenwood, as The Highwaymen ran out comfortable winners in the final league game of the season.
It proved to be a victorious end to Dave Malone’s tenure as the joint boss signed off from life in the dugout at Craik Park with a thumping win.
MORPETH TOWN: Dryden; Forster, Coppen, Turner, McDonald; Sayer, Graydon (capt) (Norris 78), Phillips; Walton (Farrier 84), Davison (Henderson 71), Taylor.
SUBS NOT USED: Moorcroft, Danny Carson.
GOALS: Davison (12), Phillips (16), Henderson (73)
SEAHAM RED STAR: Greenwood; Munro, Price, Johnston (Ramshaw 56), Staunch, Howe, Hetherington, Chapman, Thompson, Croft (Johnson 73), Bird (capt).
SUBS NOT USED: Wilkinson, Byrne, Crosby.
GOALS: Thompson (61)
ATT: 121
This match report is sponsored by Jimmy Anderson, on behalf of Aggregate Industries (a part of LaFargeHolcim).
