West Allotment Celtic came out with all three points in a huge clash at the bottom of the table against Billingham Town on Tuesday evening.
Callum Larmouth scored his 19th goal of the season to put West Allotment ahead five minutes before the half time break.
The visitors responded with an equaliser early in the second half before Regan Paterson added his name to the scoresheet to fire Allotment back into the lead and secure the victory.
It wasn't all straight forward for the home side from the opening whistle. Billingham town started sharply and came close to taking the lead.
After just 2 minutes, a corner routine caused us some problems and Hodgson was called into action early pulling off a save from close range. One minute later, Hodgson was once again kept on his toes as he tipped the ball over the bar from a shot from the edge of the box.
On 13 minutes, Finn Hodgson produced his third save of the encounter pushing the ball around the post as the visitors looked to score on the counter attack.
The next 20 minutes of the game were quiet but Allotment began to find their groove and take control of the majority of the possession.
Mikel Thompson's cross clipped the bar on the half hour mark and Regan Paterson had a shot bend wide on 35 minutes from distance. Another massive chance fell the way of Thompson on 40 minutes as he had a shot from inside the box saved brilliantly.
On 41 minutes, we found the breakthrough. Matty Hayton played a perfect ball through to Larmouth who confidently ran onto the ball and stroked it past the 'keeper to break the deadlock.
Billingham Town responded well in the second half as they found a leveller with 52 minutes played. Some pressing play from Connor Dunlavey resulted in him finding the net and turning the game on its head.
The visitors then almost found themselves in front as they struck the bar from distance on the hour-mark. We began to regroup after this and responded well.
Just a minute later after seeing the visitors hit the bar, we found ourselves back in the lead. A well-timed through ball from Thompson found Paterson. He took the ball past the onrushing 'keeper and calmly tucked the ball away into the empty net.
We almost added a third on 72 minutes. Paterson's corner delivery was met by Chapim who had his header go inches over the bar.
On 83 minutes, another huge chance fell our way. Callum Larmouth broke away down the right but unfortunately, his shot cracked the post and went out for a goal kick.
Despite Billingham piling everyone forwards (even the goalkeeper) towards the end, our defence held strong until the final whistle as we recorded our first home league win of the season and close the gap on the teams above us in the league massively.
Allotment: Hodgson, Martins, Parkinson, Forster (Leech 70'), Scott (c), Chapim, Paterson, Beeston (Bryan 85'), Hayton, Thompson, Larmouth
Attendance: 82
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