Dunston prevailed 3-0 winners in their final home pre-season friendly of the season against Newcastle Blue Star thanks to first half goals from Liam Thear, Michael Pearson, and an own goal.

After a few minutes of the game, Dunston almost took the lead.  A corner was taken quickly, and Craig Baxter swung the ball into the box towards Michael Fowler however, the forward’s header was diverted just over the crossbar.

On 6 minutes, Liam Thear added to his pre-season goal tally and fired Dunston ahead in style. Some neat dribbling from Thear and some tidy link-up play with Richard Coulson resulted in Thear blasting the ball past Seymour to give Dunston the early lead.

From kick off, Blue Star almost responded with an equaliser. The ball fell to Luke Carr on the edge of the box, and he jinked and jived with the ball before taking a shot which was well-blocked by Galbraith.

From the corner, the ball was drilled into the box and Dan Staples was called into action as he pulled off two quality saves. Firstly, at his near post, after the ball was floated into the box and then moments later, Staples palmed away another well-struck shot from Dan Walden.

On 16 minutes, Blue Star continued to apply the pressure and were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. Luke Carr curled the free kick however, Staples was once again equal to it.

A minute later, Dunston came close to doubling their lead. Another dangerous corner was swung into the box and Jon Shaw’s header cannoned off the crossbar. The rebound fell to Pearson and his effort was poked high of the target.

Once again, a theme of the afternoon was Dunston’s corners causing some problems and we were able to double our lead from another corner after 28 minutes. Michael Pearson leapt the highest and guided his header past Seymour for his second goal of pre-season.

Two became three a few minutes before the half-time break courtesy of an own goal from Euan Anderson. A free-flowing move from Dunston caused problems for the Blue Star defence as Fowler drove down the right and played the ball across the box. Euan Anderson was the unfortunate man who got the final touch prodding the ball into the back of his own net.

Multiple changes were made in the second half from both sides and the game ebbed and flowed with not too many chances.

Ultimately, after a hard-fought contest, we were able to comfortably see the game out in the second half and register a 3-0 win.