Pickering Town lauded by boss Jimmy Reid (From Gazette & Herald)

Pickering Town lauded by boss Jimmy Reid

3:18pm Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Sport

Pickering TOWN boss Jimmy Reid hailed his five-star side after they thumped Nostell Miners Welfare at the Recreation Ground.

A Steve Baxter brace, along with goals from Simon Sturdy, Jonathan Brown and Tom Adams, brought a 5-0 win and pushed Reid’s men into 16th place in the Northern Counties East League premier division table – just a point behind Nostell with a game in hand.

The win was the perfect response to Pickering’s disappointing 4-2 loss at Grangetown Boys in the North Riding Senior Cup quarter-final in midweek and Reid said: “I am delighted.

“Nostell are never an easy team to beat and we can now see a bit of daylight and a way forward for the club.

“The supporters are a great credit to the club, so many have gone out of their way to make us feel extra welcome as we have returned. I am sorry about Tuesday night’s performance. Grangetown deserved their victory.

“We gave them four chances and thy scored four goals. We were guilty of bad marking and bad defending, which we worked on, and the clean sheet we recorded on Saturday made the result extra special.”

Nostell started the better, creating a couple of chances, but Pickering settled down and were in front on 20 minutes. Tom Reid sent Baxter away down the right and he beat a couple of defenders, cut in and scored with a well-struck shot from 16 yards.

The Pikes’ best passing move of the half came on 41 minutes involving six players with Tom Fenwick – who scored all four goals when Pickering Under-19s beat Scarborough Athletic – getting the final touch. His effort was cleared off the line by Liam Coughlan with ’keeper Gavin Ansley beaten.

It only delayed the inevitable. Within a minute, the lead was doubled when a right wing cross by David Hartas was converted by Sturdy with a powerful header.

It was 3-0 two minutes after the break – Baxter getting his second from 18 yards following good build up play with Brown.

The fourth goal arrived after 58 minutes thanks to a brilliant diving header from Brown from Reid’s cross. Skipper Adams scored the Pikes fifth, and final, goal after 70 minutes.

Pickering: Mitchell, Reid (Parker 72), Hodgson, Sturdy, McNaughton, Fenwick, Ramm, Hartas, Baxter (Salt 64), Brown (Dalton 72), and Adams.

Sturdy and Baxter got the goals at Grangetown for Pickering in an otherwise disappointing display.

Next up for Reid and Pickering is the visit of Armthorpe Welfare on Saturday. His squad is boosted by the return of former Scarborough forward Ged Dalton, who has returned from Bridlington Town and played as a second-half substitute in the 5-0 Nostell win.