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Police vs Hibs Northallerton Police entertained Great Ayton Hibernians in this Division 1 fixture at Newby Wiske. Great Ayton are top of the league with Police third four points behind but with three games in hand so this was a fixture The Hibs needed to win. They got off to a great start after 5mins when Craig Johnson was put through on the left and he made no mistake from 15yards as he stroked his shot passed the advancing Alistair Johnson in the Police goal. Police hit back and equalised after 8mins when Curt Tasker headed a Neil Foster corner into goal from 6 yards. Both teams played some good football in the rainy conditions, however, defences were on top. Police took the lead after 21mins with a brilliant individual goal by Sam Vernalls. He received the ball just inside the Hibs half and ran at the defence beating four men before shooting passed Clive Dowson in the Hibs goal from 6 yds. Six minutes later Vernalls beat two men on the edge of the Hibs area before hitting a fine right foot shot which Dowson palmed for a corner. Hibs hit back after 30mins when a fine cross from the right was headed narrowly wide by Johnson. Dowson was in action again in the first minute of the second half preventing Vernalls from increasing the Police lead when he made a fine save from a 15 yard effort. A minute later he made another good save from Tasker. Police finally increased their lead after 59mins when Vernalls passed to Tasker on the right 25 yards out and he hit a fine looping cross shot into the top left hand corner of the net to make it 3-1. It was 4-1 four mins later when John Bell put Vernalls through on the right and he made no mistake from 10 yards. Vernalls completed his hat trick after 68 mins finishing off a fine team goal which started with defender Chris Walker making a vital challenge and passing forward to Curt Tasker who played the ball inside to Ben Barr who laid it off to Vernalls who shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net from 15 yards. The Hibs hit back but the Police defence held firm with captain Mark Chisholm in fine form. After 82mins Kevan Howe was through on the left but his fine shot from 15yards was turned for a corner by Dowson. Clive Dowson took the man of the match award for the Hibs with Sam Vernalls claiming it for the Police. |