Hebburn Town celebrate NPL East title and create club history with Sheffield win

Hebburn Town shook off the disappointment of their midweek defeat against Ossett United to claim the Northern Premier League East Division title with a 2-0 win at Sheffield.

Tuesday night’s loss against an Ossett side that were at risk of relegation prior to their win at Hebburn Sports Ground will be far from the Hornets minds as the celebrations got underway after a tense final afternoon of the season. Daniel Moore’s men knew they only had to match title rivals Stockton Town’s result in their visit to Belper Town to lift the league title - and that is exactly what they did by collecting all three points in South Yorkshire.

Both title rivals were unable to break the deadlock during the first-half of their respective games - but it was Stockton that delivered the first blow when captain Adam Nicholson grabbed the first of his side’s four goals at Belper on the hour-mark. Hebburn wasted little time in reacting as Dean Briggs grabbed the first goal at Sheffield before going on to double his tally and ensure his side would be plying their trade alongside Blyth Spartans and Morpeth Town in step three of the non-league pyramid next season.

That is all a far cry from the worrying state the club found themselves in when the current owners took charge seven years ago - but they will now look forward to competing at the highest level in their history when the new season gets underway in August. Chief Executive Stephen Rutherford revealed planning will get underway on Monday morning - but the focus for now will be celebrating what has been a remarkable push to bring a successful end to a thrilling title challenge.

He told The Gazette: “It was a bit tense in the first-half to be fair and we looked a bit nervous. We needed a goal to settle us down and then the second. It’s unbelievable where we are heading and you think where we were when we took over the club in 2017.  It’s went quicker than we expected in terms of getting up the leagues. We had over 150 down at Sheffield and they were fantastic for us.

“The planning for next season will get underway on Monday but for now we are just celebrating what we have achieved and enjoying it all because it’s been a lot of hard work and dedication to get to this position. Next season will be a challenge, that level is a challenge, but we will deal with that when we get to it and stick to celebrating what we have achieved for now.”

The Hornets could be joined in the Premier Division by North East neighbours Stockton and Dunston UTS, who will both compete in the play-off semi-finals later this week. Pontefract Collieries will be the visitors to Dunston’s UTS Stadium on Tuesday night before Stockton host Carlton Town 24 hours later.