By DAVID COULTER david.coulter@hexham-courant.co.uk

Last updated at 10:49, Thursday, 16 April 2009

Prudhoe Town 2, Marske United 0. AT THE 18th time of asking, Prudhoe Town finally recorded their first home league win of the season on Wednesday.

In what was their second o last home fixture for the 2008/09 season, Prudhoe managed to overcome the challenge of fourth-placed Marske United and came away with a 2-0 win.

Marske have been in free-fall, picking up only four points in their last six games, and the home side capitalised on the lack of confidence evident in their opponents.

Prudhoe, on the other hand, were oozing positivity, with central defender Ryan Monaghan proving this with a little display of showboating in the first half.

The normally no nonsense player opted to pass to his team-mate using his chest, when every member of the crowd thought he was going to bullet a header away from the danger zone.

Prudhoe were up for the fight from the off, and Liam Bell summed up this attitude up as he chased every loose ball and jumped into every challenge.

On the 20 minute mark, Chris Baxter nearly gave the home side the lead but his shot stung the palms of Marske’s number one Brendan Ledgeway.

Moments later, however, they were 1-0 up when Bell’s persistence paid off.

He raced onto a flicked header from striker Gav Wood and beat his defender to the ball.

Ledgeway seemed to hesitate in approaching the onrushing Bell, who coolly slid the ball past the ‘keeper to give Prudhoe the advantage.

The referee nearly gifted the visitors an opportunity to pull level ten minutes later though when he awarded a free kick just outside Prudhoe’s 18-yard box.

Prudhoe defender Chris Blench got to the ball before his opponent Simon Kasonali, yet the man in the middle brought the game back to award Marske with a threatening free kick.

Prudhoe were lucky to come out of the situation unscathed with Monaghan winning the race to get to the cross first.

Marske had the ball in the back of the net in the 39th minute, but the goal was correctly chalked off after Marske’s Dan Wilson pushed his defender to win the ball uncontested.

The second half started explosively and Aiden Ames in the home side’s goalmouth was seriously tested for the first time.

Substitute Shaun Erskine angled a low shot but Ames got down well to parry the ball away from danger.

Following the clearance, Liam Bell nearly netted his and Prudhoe’s second of the game when played through, but Ledgeway managed to block the shot.

It was nerve jangling stuff at times for the home side, desperate to hold onto their lead, and defender Stephen Little made sure of their one-goal advantage in the 57th minute with a last ditch tackle.

Baxter struck on the half hour to give Prudhoe a comfortable margin when he powered home to make it 2-0.

Mark Waugh played a precise through ball to Baxter, who controlled in the box before rifling in a shot past Ledgeway.

Five minutes later it was nearly three, but Bell lifted his shot over the crossbar after gambling on a long punt upfield by Ames.

The home side dug in deep with ten minutes to go and snuffed out all attacks that came their way.

Relief on the faces of both fans and players of Prudhoe Town was evident when the referee blew the final whistle, with the team eventually picking up three points at Kimberly Park.

Although the win did not move Prudhoe from second off bottom, the victory will give them a great deal of confidence going into their last home league game of the season against Guisborough on April 18.

First published at 09:52, Friday, 10 April 2009
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk