After beating AFC Newbiggin in the Northumberland FA Benevolent Bowl Final six days earlier, Wallington rounded off the best season in their 147-year history with a 6-1 win against Stobswood Welfare at Oakford Park, Scots Gap last Wednesday night to clinch the Northern Alliance Bay Plastics Premier Division title for the first time since 1977.

The visitors were forced to make several changes to the side that had started against in-form Percy Main Amateurs the previous Saturday, with experienced keeper Nathan Sharpe replaced by manager Stefan Townsley, while first-team regulars Jack Small and Liam Eason were also unavailable.

Wallington dominated from the start but, despite enjoying the lion's share of possession and territory, lacked a bit of quality and accuracy in the box with Townsley not called into action in the opening 30 minutes.

As early as the second minute in a sign of things to come, Andy Bell's ball over the top found centre forward Jordan Nellis in space inside the box on the right but the club's top-scorer chose not to shoot and his square pass was cut out.

They came again down the left and won a corner from which a pinpoint Micky Angus delivery into the six-yard box resulted in both close range and follow-up efforts being blocked.

Aaron Carr's long goal-kick then found an unmarked Angus who advanced into the box and had a low shot blocked with the rebound blazed over the bar by Ben Middleton.

Carr's only meaningful action in the first half came on 13 minutes when a free-kick launched from inside the Stobswood half dropped in the box and he just managed to gather it at the second attempt with striker Thomas Forster ready to pounce on the loose ball.

Normal service quickly resumed at the other end as space opened up in the box for Kris Willis who turned down a first-time shot and instead squared it to Nellis but his effort lacked power.

On 23 minutes, Bell played a great through ball to Nellis who turned his man in the box before firing over from 15 yards when he should have at least hit the target.

Soon after, another Nellis shot was blocked and his side still had nothing to show for their efforts despite it being one-way traffic since kick-off.

They kept pressing and Nellis slipped a perfectly weighted ball through to Angus in space in the box but the winger lacked composure when it mattered and blazed his shot over Townsley's bar.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 35th minute by Nellis. After being fed 25 yards out towards the right-hand edge of the box, he controlled it well before cutting inside onto his favoured left foot and curled one into the top corner at the back post giving Townsley no chance (1-0).

That proved to be the catalyst for the floodgates to open. Good pressure from full back Dan Roberts down the left forced the visitors to concede a corner in the 40th minute, with the resulting delivery from Angus curled directly into the net after being somehow missed by defenders on the line (2-0).

The hosts struck again in the 43rd minute through Bell. Breaking forward at pace, Angus fed Nellis who looked up before moving it right to Bell in the box and the midfielder's low angled drive found the back of the net (3-0).

Wallington started the second half on the front foot but were given a reality check in the 50th minute when, against the run of play, Stobswood pulled a goal back.

They broke at pace down the right wing with centre forward Forster beating his man before curling in a great cross to the near post that was knocked past Carr by winger Will Slater (3-1).

That seemed to galvanise the visitors who should have scored again moments later. A deep cross from the right was returned into the six-yard box by Marc Nixon to Forster who saw his close range effort brilliantly saved on the line by Carr.

That proved to be a crucial miss as the hosts extended their lead in the 55th minute courtesy of a dubious penalty awarded by the assistant referee on the left touchline for an alleged foul in the box on Ben Turnbull, with Townsley shown a yellow card for his protests. After a short delay, Nellis stepped up to fire home the spot-kick straight down the middle of the goal (4-1).

Stobswood then missed another gilt-edged opportunity when a ball over the top put Max Anderson clean through on goal but the advancing Carr got down well to make a great save.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men in the 65th minute when Townsley received a second yellow card after bringing down Nellis in the box. Substitute Ryan Baker took over between the sticks and his first task was picking the ball out of the back of the net after being sent the wrong way from the penalty spot by Nellis (5-1).

In their next attack, Nellis had another shot blocked and John Paxton's follow-up close range effort was saved.

Club legend Paxton (40 next month), in his final season before hanging up his boots, must still be wondering how he didn't sign off with a goal on home turf after volleying wide from 12 yards when unmarked.

Nellis completed a great night's work with his fourth goal in the 88th minute, taking his season's tally in all competitions to 39. Paxton surged forward from half-way before feeding Nellis in the box to the right of goal and he coolly slotted it home through the legs of replacement keeper Baker (6-1).

Operating with one of the smallest squads in the Premier Division, Wallington manager Trevor Baston was understandably very proud of his side's achievements this season especially when they have had to play as many of their scheduled home games away from Oakford Park due to the pitch being almost permanently waterlogged between October and March.

He played almost 300 games for the club between 1996 and 2014 before taking over as manager in 2020, and knows that he needs to do some recruitment during the summer with a quintet of his current squad set to hang up their boots.