Richmond Town 3 Harton and Westoe 1

A BRACE from Scott Ryan and a 30th goal of the season from Kalumn Holbrook last Saturday saw Richmond Town come from behind to beat ten-man Harton and Westoe at Earls Orchard.

Needing a win to keep alive their dreams of a top-four finish, Richmond found themselves trailing to the visitors at the break, thanks to a strike from Harton forward Jon Basham.

But Ryan headed the equaliser on 48 minutes and the Dalesmen were able to make the extra man count in the closing stages.

Ryan tapped in his second on the hour before Holbrook sealed the points nine minutes later to reach the 30-goal milestone.

Richmond assistant manager Jimmy Nesbit, who had to play the full 90 minutes at left back, said: “It was an enjoyable game.

The first half, we just weren’t playing football but when we got the ball down and started passing, it was different class.

“It’s getting the ball on the ground; that’s how we beat most teams. The first 15 minutes of any game we start quite slow, it is something we’ve been working on. But we came out second half and proved that we could do it. It was a good result for us.”

The visitors arrived from South Shields with 10 men, but they took the lead after 14 minutes when Basham found space on the edge of the area to fire a low, left-footed drive past Town goalkeeper Adam Cunningham.

The visitors almost doubled their lead as Rudi Van de Lang headed against the post.

But Town took just three minutes to draw level after the break when Ryan headed in Adam Emson’s cross from three yards.

Richmond then had a penalty after Harton defender Ollie Bone handled in the area, but Holbrook blasted over the crossbar.

The Dalesmen made them pay on the hour when Ryan tapped home his 17th goal of the season from a Chris Pattison cross.

And it was all over nine minutes later. Ryan’s speculative cross from the right was dropped by Harton goalkeeper David Bulman and Holbrook could not miss this time; turning home his 30th goal of an impressive season.

Harton’s legs had now gone and it was a case of how many more Town would score.

Wayne Thwaites saw a header cleared off the line before Ryan was presented with a golden opportunity to complete a rare hattrick, but he blasted over from close range with only Bulman to beat and it finished 3-1.

Following a midweek meeting with Prudhoe Town, the Dalesmen complete a long, hard season tomorrow when Sunderland West End are the visitors.