Five-Star Cowburn Shines Against BEADS

Whickham rounded off pre-season by scoring nine goals at home

Youngster Max Cowburn score five goals in the second-half as Whickham recorded their first win of pre-season after the 9-0 thrashing of BEADS FC. 

The hosts took the lead on eight minutes when Lee McAndrew’s cross was helped on by Andrew Bulford and Carl Finnigan powered the ball home from close range. 

McAndrew was proving to be a thorn in the side of BEADS, down the right, and his drilled cross was tapped home by Dale Burrell on 20 minutes. 

Substitute Chad Collins made an instant impact by playing an exquisite pass over the back line and Finnigan curled into the net for his second of the game, just before the half-hour mark. 

Manager Robin Falcus made two substitutes at half-time, with full-back Clark Kay and midfielder Tom Scothern coming on for Kyle Oliver and Dale Burrell respectively. 

Cowburn’s first two goals came within the space of two second-half minutes. Finnigan slipped the ball through for his first and Cowburn then took the ball around the ‘keeper before tapping into an empty net for his second on the hour mark. 

Collins struck the crossbar on 72 minutes, but Whickham’s scoring wasn’t finished as they added a sixth goal through Cowburn, who completed his hat-trick with a neat finish into the bottom corner. 

McAndrew and Cowburn both inflicted more misery on the visitors before the latter rounded off the performance with his fifth goal of the night from the penalty spot, late in the game. 

The Lang Jacks close out pre-season by scoring 14 goals in two games and they will travel to Newton Aycliffe for the Northern League Division One opener on Saturday afternoon. 

Whickham: Bartlett, Howard, Oliver (Kay, 46), Galbraith (Little, 61), Grieve, Newton (Gibbons, 66), McAndrew, Burrell (Scothern, 46), Bulford (Collins, 28), Finnigan (Galbraith, 72), Thear (Cowburn, 51)