North Shields put in a brilliant pre-season performance as they overcame Northern League Division Two side Jarrow 4-0 at Perth Green.
Callum Smith’s goal early in the first half gave the Robins the lead at the break, following great linkup play between himself and Dan Wilson.
Wilson’s well-taken header then made it two straight after the restart, converting Gareth Bainbridge’s low cross.
Andrew Cartwright added a third for Shields midway through the second period, straight from a corner, catching the home keeper off his line.
And Jamie Clark rounded things up with a fourth with minutes left in the game, converting from an angle after beating his marker.
The Robins, after a narrow win against Seaton Delaval, started strongly and after only eight minutes, Andrew Cartwright’s whipped freekick missed every Robin in the box, with only a touch needed to convert the chance.
One minute later, the visitors had a golden opportunity to open the scoring after being awarded a penalty, only for Callum Smith’s spot kick to clear the crossbar.
Despite the miss, Shields were not deterred and in the 15th minute, Dan Wilson headed a corner just over the goal, after Paul Van-Zandvliet and Smith had efforts saved by the Jarrow keeper.
Smith had started the game well and in the 16th minute, his through ball to Wilson took him past the defence and through on goal, but the home shot-stopper parried his effort wide.
The damn was finally broken in the 19th minute when a powerful run from Wilson set Smith up with a chance to redeem his penalty miss. Despite a slight deflection, the shot had enough power on it to take it over the line.
The lead was almost doubled in the 23rd minute when an interception from Van-Zandvliet released David Robinson in acres of space, but his tame shot was comfortably saved.
Wilson was looking hungry for his first goal since returning to Shields and in the 28th minute, he turned his man on the edge of the area, before testing the keeper’s reflexes.
But Jarrow weren’t out of this game as only a minute later, Skirpan needed to tip a long range effort around the post; the resulting corner being comfortably dealt with by the Shields defence.
With less than ten minutes left in the half, the hosts were looking strong but the Robins almost added a second to their score, when Smith once again brought a fine save from the Jarrow numer one.
On the stroke of half time, McDonald’s charging run put the Jarrow back line under real pressure. After touches from Cartwright and Robinson, the fullback’s curled shot needed to be dealt with by the man between the posts.
The Robins didn’t waste any time at the start of the second half and soon had their deserved second goal, with Wilson heading substitute Bainbridge’s cross into the bottom corner.
Bainbridge, who was making his first pre-season appearance, was looking to make a strong impact and in the 50th minute, a dipping shot on the angle only just cleared the crossbar.
The visitors weren’t relenting and in the 56th minute, they managed to add a third to their tally when Cartwright’s corner evaded the keeper and flew into the top corner of the net.
After a number of substitutions, the Robins continued where they had left off, with both Kyle Patton and Jamie Clark forcing the Jarrow back line into some desperate defending, with a quarter of the game left to play.
Jarrow were struggling to deal with the Robins fast pace of play and Paul Robinson’s weaving run through the home defence, in the 76th minute, drew a tremendous block out of the Jarrow keeper.
With plenty of competition for places, every North Shields player seemed to be on a mission to prove they deserved a place in the starting eleven.
Substitute Jamie Clark was one of those and with five minutes left on the clock, he did brilliantly to add a fourth goal, beating his marker before charging into the box and firing into the bottom corner.
And it wasn’t long after that the referee brought the game to an end, making it three wins out of four so far for the Robins this pre-season.
Final Score: Jarrow 0 North Shields 4
