Clinical Lang Jack’s cruise into the next round of the Durham Challenge Cup

Whickham convincingly beat Durham Corinthians on Tuesday evening to book their place in the next round of the Durham Challenge Cup. 

The Lang Jacks scored seven goals which included hat-tricks for strikers Scott Robson and Nathan Greenwood while Jamie Dunn added another in the closing stages. 

James Hughes and Cam Arthurs scored two well-taken goals for the visitors in the second half. 

Whickham started the stronger of the two teams and passed the ball around with confidence from the first whistle. 

Scott Robson carved open the first chance of the match inside the first six minutes, but Durham goalkeeper Ross Stead was positioned well to save Robson’s shot.

Stead was called into action again this time Kaleb Young superbly dinked pass found Robson inside Durham’s six-yard box, but Stead saved smartly to keep the scores level. 

Whickham’s early pressure was rewarded after 16 minutes when Dunn played Robson through on goal, the striker lofting the ball over Stead to open the scoring.  

Only three minutes later and strike partner Greenwood was on the score sheet after flicking on Kaleb Young’s free-kick and wrong-footing Stead to double the Lang Jacks lead. 

The home team weren’t letting up and two minutes later Greenwood notched his second of the night after tapping in Robson’s squared ball across Durham’s six-yard box. 

Joey Smith almost got his name on the scoresheet on the half-hour mark with a curling shot from 30 yards but Stead somehow fingertipped the ball over his crossbar to deny Smith. 

The hosts were switched on from the start and striker Scott Robson latched onto a poor back pass to round Stead and score Whickham’s fourth goal of the first half. 

The Lang Jacks all but wrapped up victory on the stroke of half-time when Robson watched the net ripple after charging down Stead’s kick to claim his hat-trick. 

Durham give themselves a glimmer of hope when Hughes’ bending shot found its way into Matty Cassap’s top left-hand corner within two minutes of the restart. 

The visitor’s revival was short-lived after Young picked out Greenwood with a brilliant, floated ball over the Durham defence only a few minutes later. 

Greenwood cut in from the left-hand side and drilled a low and hard shot into Stead’s bottom right-hand corner to complete his hat-trick on 52 minutes.

The away team kept going and scored their second of the evening when Arthurs hammered his shot into the roof of Cassap’s net. 

Whickham had the final say of the evening when Smith skilfully weaved his way past several Durham players before setting up Dunn inside the box to drill a low shot past Stead. 

Whickham manager Tony Fawcett got the reaction he wanted from his players with the Lang Jacks deservedly putting their name in the hat for the next round. 

Whickham team: Harker, Howard (Maughan 68’), Galbraith ©, Agnew, Garside, Moody (Below 66’), Young, Dunn, Smith, S. Robson (Jasper 45’), Greenwood (Yoxall 59’)

Subs not used: Peareth. 

Goalscorers: S. Robson 16’, 41’, 45’ Greenwood 19’, 21’, 52’ Dunn 73’.

Referee: Jordan Nicholson

Man of the Match: Nathan Greenwood.