By Paul McGeary
Newton Aycliffe stretched their advantage at the top of the second division to a huge 12 points with a hard earned victory over 5th place Whickham at The Glebe.
The win rounded off a good day of celebration for boss Allan Oliver who took time off from the game to frequent the Cheltenham Festival, but the Aycliffe boss was never far from the action, keeping in constant touch from his Cotswold base.
A hat-trick from Warren Byrne and further goals from Ben Wood, and a superb Stuart Owen free-kick gave the Newtonians the points, despite a rugged display from The Highwaymen, who twice replied through Tony Thirkell.
In OliverÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s absence, Gary Farley and Brian Atkinson made one enforced change from last weekÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s demolition of Crook, Owen replacing Fred Woodhouse on the left while skipper Sean Tarling returned to the stable to take up his seat on the bench. Craig Mickle and Dion Raitt missed out and did not travel.
Aycliffe were slow out of the stalls and Thirkell almost opened the scoring after just four minutes, outstripping Chris Beckett before shooting wide of Scott PocklingtonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s right-hand upright under pressure from the covering Mark Peck.
The former Jarrow Roofing striker had the ball in the net three minutes later after the visitors failed to clear a right wing corner but the near-side linesman saved the league-leaders with a late flag, mush to the dismay of the home side.
The NewtoniansÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ first sight on goal saw Byrne fire just wide from the edge of the area after some good build up play involving Anth Campbell and Dan Mellanby, ByrneÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s shot scraping the side netting on its way past Scott CresswellÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s post.
Byrne was beaten to Ben WoodÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s through-ball on 15 minutes by the out-rushing Cresswell while at the other end Pocklington had to smartly tip over Kris AllenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s speculatively hit right-wing cross-come-shot.
WoodÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s angled drive on 22 minutes flashed across the face of goal while an uncharacteristic piece of mis-control from Mellanby sent the same man through only for Cresswell to again beat an Aycliffe forward to the race. Just before the half-hour mark, Scott Robson thumped a right-foot volley just past PocklingtonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s post as the game began to take shape.
An impromptu piece of skill from Byrne brought about the first of the evening and his 33rd league goal of the current campaign. Collecting a Gardner flick 30-yards from goal, the 28-year-old hitman spotted Cresswell adrift of his line before superbly executing a lobbed volley over the custodian and under the bar, despite CresswellÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s best clambering efforts.
There followed a bizarre eight minutes which saw a further four goals recorded starting with WoodÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s fifth of the season as he coolly stroked a Mellanby through-ball past Cresswell after beating his marker to the superb slide-rule pass from the former Darlington striker.
60-seconds later and Thirkell halved the deficit after Pocklington misjudged a right-wing cross, slamming home the rebound after the 20-year-old stopper could only parry AllenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s centre onto the face of the crossbar.
From the resultant restart, a long ball forward from Beckett saw Byrne nick the ball round Cresswell who had raced from his area leaving the divisionÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s top scorer with the easiest of tasks in slotting home his second of the evening.
If OliverÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s nerves were just settling some 300-miles away, he could have been forgiven for bolting just two minutes later when a long-ball into his sideÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s box wasnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t properly cleared allowing Thirkell the chance to rifle home his second of the evening with Pocklington helpless in the goal.
Whickham had fashioned a chink in the visitors armour and the second half got no better from a spectatorÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s perspective as time-and-time again they pumped long balls into the NewtoniansÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ box, relying on their physical approach to carve out half chances as the scraps fell off their service.
Adam McClane almost grabbed the equaliser just after the hour when he reacted first to RobsonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s left-wing corner but could only watch as his glancing header evaded everyone inside the six-yard area, and the far post as it ran harmlessly for a goal kick.
OliverÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s side jumped clear with 15 minutes to go as the evergreen Mellanby won a free-kick on the edge of the area after his fine turn of pace saw him cynically scythed down by Craig Rook 20-yards out. Tailor-made for the left-footed player, Owen strode forward and superbly bent the ball into CresswellÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s top corner with the Ã¢â‚¬Ëœkeeper nowhere near the strike.
ByrneÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s hat-trick goal came 10 minutes from time as he latched on to MellanbyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s clever lofted through ball to lift the ball over the advancing Cresswell into the corner of the net to cap a fine nightÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s work for his side who for large parts counted themselves second-best.
And so the table-topping outfit galloped further clear with just two more fences in their way as their promotion charge takes them to SaturdayÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s home clash with Brandon, needing just six points to guarantee promotion. In fact, should Marske lose at Whickham and Team Northumbria fail to win at Northallerton, victory over second bottom Brandon would secure a historic promotion for OliverÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s men.
Star Man Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Warren BYRNE
Dan Mellanby grew into he game as the service got better in the second period and he had a hand in three of his sideÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s five goals on the evening but for his work-rate and his goals Ã¢â‚¬â€œ his 36th of the campaign, including three hat-tricks Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Byrne takes the honours.

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