Hebburn Town are back on the road this Saturday with a second trip of the season to Consett for an Ebac Northern League Division 1 clash coming only two weeks after an FA Vase defeat at Belle Vue Park.
League momentum has been temporarily halted after last week’s South Tyneside derby loss against South Shields and Tuesday’s home match against Ashington falling victim to the torrential rain on Tyneside. The Hornets also had to cancel training on Thursday night due to the weather which has left the players a full week to contemplate the derby drubbing and return fresh and re-focused for Saturday’s clash.
Paul Bennett: “Last week was embarrassing”.
Consett have also had an interrupted week with their match on Monday evening at Team Northumbria being postponed at half-time due to water lying on the surface of the pitch. At the time, the Steelmen were winning 1-0 and after a poor start to their league campaign, they are now up-and-running with two good results after their Vase victory, having defeated Newton Aycliffe 7-2 at home followed a 2-1 away victory at Marske United before the Team North abandoned game.
Manager Paul Bennett has called “a response to last week’s embarrassment” from his players as Hebburn look to maintain their 100% away record in the league.
According to the Northern Echo, Consett will give fitness tests to Scott Martindale, Luke Sullivan and Steven Aiston ahead of the match. The visitors will leave their team selection to the last minute but Lee Harrison and Liam McBryde are still a little shy of fitness while Stu Nicholson looks set to miss the next three weeks having struggled to shake off a recent thigh injury.
Lee Harrison – almost fit.
With Brad Brooking having departed the club to sign for Whitley Bay, Jeff Forsyth and Stephen Forster will continue to slug it out for the right-back spot, with both players capable of playing that position and having preferred to the specialist full-back who had only signed from Dunston UTS during pre-season.
Kick-off is at 3pm at Consett’s ground, which can be found at postcode DH8 6LZ, Ashdale Road – a left turn just after the Civic Centre when approaching from either the A692 (from Newcastle) or the A691 (from Durham).
