A HAT-TRICK from Wallington teenager Simon Farrier shot down Gateshead Rutherford in the Northern Alliance Premier Division.

Farrier made his first start for the club in the 4-3 victory, after making an impression from the bench against Newcastle Blue Star two weeks ago.

And took the youngster just over an hour to put his side 3-0 up on a day of strong winds at Oakford Park.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the home side, who let their three-goal advantage slip during a seven-minute meltdown in the second half, before substitute Andy Bell struck a late winner.

Wallington had the wind advantage in the first half, and were the brighter of the two sides in the opening stages as the Gateshead keeper struggled to reach the halfway line with his goal kicks into the strong headwind.

Wallington won a corner after 25 minutes, and following a goalmouth scramble, Farrier pounced to put his side ahead.

Within five minutes, the teenager scored his and Wallington’s second, after controlling the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box and finding the net with a clinical finish.

Despite playing into the wind after the break, Wallington started the second half on top, and it was no surprise when Farrier completed his hat-trick on the hour mark, after running onto a through ball and finding the bottom corner from 10 yards.

With the game seemingly put to bed, the Greens made three substitutions.

But on 68 minutes, they conceded when the wind took hold of an inswinging corner, and came off the unfortunate Wallington left back Justin Millican on its way into the net. Two minutes later, another wind-assisted corner led to a goal - this time directly flying past home keeper Aaron Carr.

Shortly afterwards, calls for offside from Wallington defenders went unheard, as a Gateshead forward ran through to equalise.

In the dying minutes, however, a Jake Walton free-kick was swung to the far post, and the ball fell to Bell, one of the three earlier substitutes, who fired home from close range.

After losing their opening five games and dropping out of all cup competitions, Wallington have lost just once since September in the league, and are now up to fourth, after a superb run of results. They travel to third-bottom Gateshead FC Reserves, in another league fixture, on Saturday.