Last updated 13:32, Thursday, 14 August 2008

THE stars of the Premier League may have had another week off, but in the Re/Max Northern Alliance there was no such luck – it was back to League duty.

Willington Quay Saints 3, Hexham 3.

Hexham’s opening fixture was a trip to Willington Quay, a team they did the double over last year, but a lot can change over the summer break.

A vastly different side took the field at the Rising Sun sports field to take on a Hexham side who themselves had six new players in the squad.

The grass was longer than both teams would have liked and suffering from the heavy rain which fell on Saturday morning.

This made the pitch very heavy with large areas saturated.

As the half progressed it was evident that it would be a tight affair.

Both sides had chances but debutant for Hexham Carl Robinson in goal for Hexham was in terrific form.

On the balance of play Hexham had the better of the first half with three chances all falling to Iain Strachan, who can count himself un fortunate not to have opened his account for the season.

This was not due to lack of effort but the central pairing of Willington Quay had the height and weight advantage.

New captain Gavin Cox was also making his debut and was impressive with his organising of the back four and his all round display.

This was in spite of receiving a painful calf injury early on in the half which troubled him for the entire match.

Another new boy Joe Stewart looked an exciting prospect but was on the end of some rough tackles.

He did not get the opportunity he deserved but has shown enough pre-season to show he will be a big asset.

At the break the scores were level but that did not last long.

The best move of the game was when Hexham opened the scoring.

A neat passing move from midfield split the defence and Iain Strachan capitalised, and from the right flank fed Mark Gibson, who controlled the cross and turned to fire Hexham into a deserved lead.

This should have been the signal for Hexham to go on to finish the home side off.

Last season that would have happened but this year Willington are made of sterner stuff.

Back they came using the slight hill to their advantage and after 15 minutes Glen Gallon fired in off the underside of the crossbar from a deep cross into the box when Hexham failed to clear.

Hexham soon regained the advantage and Iain Strachan was involved again.

He received the ball just outside the box, sidestepped the defender and shot for goal.

Willington keeper Henderson got a hand to it and palmed his effort onto the post but Scott Coates made sure and completed the move.

Back came Willington, who were soon level, from another cross from the right.

The ball struck Graham Turner on the hand and a penalty was awarded.

Willington scored from the spot, and Turner saw the red card, so Hexham were down to ten and frantically trying to reorganise.

Pressure mounted but Hexham looked strong with Cox and Toward holding firm.

That did not last for long, despite the efforts of man of the match Carl Robinson.

Willington went into the lead for the first time with ten minutes left.

This was a shame for Carl as he had produced three tremendous saves during the game.

Tactical changes had to be made by sacrificing a defender and introducing another new boy Junior Hallal into the fray.

Almost his first touch of the ball was when he received it wide out right and after losing his marker dropped a delightful cross into the danger area.

The ball was deflected into the goal to give Hexham a deserved equaliser.

The goal was awarded to Junior but if the dubious goals panel had a say it might be a different tale.

A point each was the end result which may be a good point as Willington will take some beating this season.

Due to the temporary closure of the Wentworth Next week’s home match v Forest Hall will be played at Haydon Bridge KO 2.30