Northallerton Town 3 Willington 0

A THREE-goal blast in the 15-minute spell midway through the second half brought three much needed points for Peter Mulcaster's ailing Northallerton Town side.

This was Town's first win in five outings and only their third in the last 15 games which has seen the team take just 13 points and drop from second in the table in late October to their present 10th place.

Following away defeats at Penrith, Norton, Washington Nissan and Crook Town this was a game that Town just had to win and they made a positive start, going close in the second minute through Matthew Swales whose header, following an Anthony Ptohopoulos right wing cross, was well saved by Willington keeper Tony Heslop.

The visitors replied in the tenth minute through Brian Nelson who had a great chance after latching on to a left wing cross from Paul Hopps, but with only Town keeper Darren Poole to beat, he blazed his 12-yard shot well wide.

Town should have done better in the 29th minute after Ptohopoulos was brought down on the edge of the area by Chris Luke, but Craig Veart blasted the resulting free kick high over the bar. Then in the 33rd minute a long clearance by Poole found Ptohopoulos, in space just outside the visitors penalty area, but he shot straight at keeper Heslop.

Willington almost broke the deadlock in the 37th minute through Nelson who hit a great drive from 25 yards which brought a brilliant save out of Poole who, at full stretch, tipped the ball on to the bar.

Two minutes before the break Veart created a great chance for himself after beating two defenders on the edge of the area but his shot lacked accuracy as he fired well wide.

Town started strongly at the start of the second half and they went close in the 47th minute through Micky Pugh whose 20-yard free kick skimmed the bar. But it was Willington who almost took the lead when, in the 55th minute, a close range header from Dave Rooney, following Michel Bournsong's left wing corner was cleared off the line by Veart.

From this point on Town completed dominated the game and they took the lead in the 62nd minute with an absolutely brilliant goal from Andrew Murphy who, after picking up a perfect ball over the defence from Pugh, spotted keeper Heslop slightly off his line and, from fully 25 yards, placed a perfect lob over the keeper into the empty net.

Three minutes later and Town went further ahead after they were gifted a goal by keeper Heslop who failed to hold a harmless right wing cross from Murphy and Matthew Cook had the easiest of jobs as he tapped the ball into the empty net from two yards.

Murphy was again the provider as Town scored their third in the 75th minute, his right wing cross was met by Ptohopoulos on the edge of the six-yard box, and, despite the efforts of Heslop who saved his first shot, scored at the second attempt to register his first ever goal for Town.

Town are away at Alnwick Town tomorrow, kick off 3pm. A coach will leave the club at 11.30am and on Easter Monday they have a re-arranged home game against Shildon, kick off 11am. On Wednesday, April 3 they are at home again when South Shields are the visitors, kick off 7.30.