Dunston earned their first win of pre-season in a 2-1 victory at home to Northern League 1st Division side Ryhope CW.

The hosts controlled the tempo of game and had the Lion’s share of possession for the majority of the afternoons encounter.

Lee Mason opened the scoring for Dunston on the 14th minute, notching his first goal in a Dunston shirt since arriving from South Shields. With Jack Elliott jinking his way around the Ryhope defence, his cross was parried by keeper Jordan Harkness, Mason was in the right position to calmly slot the ball home from inside the six yard box.

An injury to Ursene Mouanda five minutes later would see the Callum Elliott enter the field and employed in a more attacking role.

Luke Porritt was causing issues for the visitors and the home side had a fine chance to increase their lead through Michael Pearson, only for his effort to flash wide of the opposition goal.

The visitor’s best chance of the first half fell to former Dunston player Denver Morris; a through ball from Wallace was misjudged by the Dunston defence, however the resulting effort on goal lacked power as Andy Clark collected comfortably.

Dan Capewell ensured Dunston kept their lead going into the break, a header flicked round the back of the defence into the path of Brad Hird, with the forward gearing to pull the trigger, Capewell timed his sliding tackle to perfection to take the ball from off the forward’s toes.

Half time would see a raft of substitutions from the hosts, with Chris Swailes looking to get game time into his players legs.

The second half would go much the same way as the first, Dunston looking in control of the game, dictating possession, Ryhope looking capitalise on the break, making themselves hard to break down at the back and the July heat testing players energy levels.

Dunston eventually extended their lead on 76 minutes, Callum Elliott bravely sliding in to prod home from close range from a dangerous delivery from out wide.

The visitors did manage to pull one back on 87 minutes, on the break Brad Hird pushed the ball past the Dunston defence to calmly slot his effort into the bottom corner.

Dunston’s pre-season continues this week, with tough tests coming up against Middlesbrough FC Under 23’s at home on Wednesday night and Hartlepool United the visitors to UTS Stadium on Friday evening.