IMPERIOUS SHIELDS
Wilson and Smith shine in outstanding team performance
North Shields 7 Redcar Athletic 0 – Ebac Northern League Division One
After a somewhat uncertain start at the weekend, North Shields last night showed why they’re many people’s favourites to win the first division title.
From the off they were unstoppable, led by No. 9 Dan Wilson who, at times, was almost unplayable. The scoreline tells the story of the match.
For their part, Redcar Athletic will have felt positive about getting their first points on the board on Saturday after promotion from Division Two. But this will have been a sobering lesson about the step up in quality. Fortunately for them, they won’t be facing sides as good as North Shields every week.
Wilson set out his stall in the second minute – out-muscling the Redcar defence to strike it past keeper James Dawson. First attack; first goal. And Dawson was the busiest man on the pitch: 8’ a sliding block to save a Jack Leonard shot. A minute later it was 2-0 when Wilson turned provider, setting up Andy Cartwright who thumped the ball into the net.
After about 10 minutes Redcar started to mount a couple of attacks but were unable threaten the Shields goal.
In the 17th minute Callum Smith and David Robinson combined, with the No. 8 putting the ball across the six yard area. Leonard was waiting at the far post to knock it in. 3-0. Shields were dictating the pace and tempo of the game, with Redcar giving them all the time they needed at the back and in midfield to pick their passes.
Redcar’s first real chance came in the 23rd minute when Jordan Rivis delivered a through ball for Isaac Walker who beat the offside trap and lobbed Shields keeper Greg Purvis, only for the ball to go just wide.
Wilson ended the half as he started – managing to shrug off a couple of defenders and turn. He tried to curl the ball into the top right corner, only missing the target by a foot or two. Shields made an even quicker start to the second half. In less than a minute of the re-start Callum Smith met a cross from the left as he loitered at the far post and stroked the ball just inside the left hand post.
The Shields No. 10 doubled his tally nine minutes later. Yet again, Wilson out-muscled the defenders before putting Smith through, allowing him to slot it past Dawson. (Wilson was then subbed – his work done for the night.) Smith then completed a 12-minute hat-trick when he raced past the Redcar defence to coolly stroke a long ball into the net to make it 6-0.
In the 61st minute, Dawson and his defenders managed to scramble away three efforts that came within seconds of each other. The Robins continued to create chances and they completed the scoring with just over quarter of an hour to go: Cameron Cunningham passed to Konner Lamb and his shot took a huge deflection to send the ball past a helpless keeper.
Despite the emphatic scoreline, I got the impression that Shields still had another gear or two. The strength of their squad was illustrated by the quality of the substitutes – like Ryan Carr – that they were able to bring on with the game comfortably won.
For Redcar Athletic, it’ll be a case of dusting themselves off, acknowledging that they were up against one of the best teams in the division who played some imperious football. There’ll be easier games for them in the months ahead.
Mike Snowdon
