Beverley Town 5

Beverley Town set a new club record in beating Barton Town Reserves in their final league match of the season.

Nothing short of a win would do for the Town 1sts at Barton’s impressive ground. And that they achieved in style.

Beverley manager Dave Walton was without the services of Sam Overton, Danny Cattle, Mike Evins and Mike Winfield, while Rich Durham and Andy Stott were brought in from the reserves.

Town where determined that their final match of a hard-fought campaign would not end in disappointment, and treated the game as if it where a cup final. Outright victory would ensure a new club points record.

They were given an early wake-up call when in the opening 30 seconds Barton players weaved their way through the rearguard, but the home side did not capitalise on the opportunities and were made to pay as Beverley woke up in big style.

Town totally dominated the remaining 89 minutes with fierce passion and endless energy which proved to be a joy to watch for the travelling supporters and management.

With Beverley keeping Barton under sustained pressure in all departments, they still needed that all-important opening goal. It arrived in the 25th minute when Jonny (on the spot) Kershaw was on hand to react the fastest. He stabbed the ball into the net from close range after Barton failed to clear from a corner.

Michael O’Connell then had an inspired six minutes during which he fired over the bar after good work from Rich Durham, received an excellent pass from Chris McMillan and cut inside before shooting wide, and saw a shot on target turned round for a corner. O’Connell took the kick and his cross went directly into the goal to give Beverley a deserved two goal cushion.

Beverley capped a fantastic first half in the 44th minute when a superb move involving Rich Durham and the all-action Glenn Rushton paved the way for Craig Lamplugh to beat the keeper and add to the score with a trademark finish for this talented target man.

The dressing room was buzzing at half time as the visitors knew that another solid 45 minutes would see them end the season on a high. The break did not affect the flow of the game as Beverley were all over the opposition. Centre backs Jay Custus and Rich Jagger were superb in snuffing out any Barton attempts to find a way back into this encounter. Captain courageous, Jon Ricardo, was leading by example as he drove his team forward with inspirational play.

It was in fact surprising that it took until the 61st minute to score again, but what a finish it was. O’Connell slotted a perfect pass into Rich Durham who showed composure before angling a shot in off the post for 4-0.

Craig Lamplugh, who has been a revelation this season, ran himself into the ground and was eventually replaced by Dean Chilcott.