Kidsgrove Athletic 5-2 Leek Town
KIDSGROVE Athletic striker Dave Walker went goal crazy last Tuesday night as he scored all five goals in a derby day demolition of Leek Town at the Seddon Stadium.
The Blues could not live with the deadly marksman as he scored four times to kill the game off before half-time.
Furious boss Wayne Johnson used all his substitutes at the start of the second period, and that led to Leek playing much of the last 45 minutes with only 10 men after Richard Bailey was injured.
However, Ashley Miller pulled a goal back, only for Walker’s fifth to restore the four-goal gap before Paul Rutter completed the scoring late on.
Leek started the game on the attack but a counter attack from Geoff McGaw on four minutes saw Hall cross in to Walker, and he had a simple task to tap home his first of the night.
The Blues responded with good play, but first Dan Cope headed wide on seven minutes and then Rob Hawthorne slammed a shot wide of the mark.
The same pairing of McGaw and Walker combined again on 13 minutes to make it 2-0 to Kidsgrove as again Leek were hit on the counter.
Cope headed a Paul Taylor free-kick into the body of a defender and the ball fell straight to the home goalkeeper and then the young striker saw his rising shot just clear the crossbar.
Kidsgrove counter-attacked again and Walker completed a 22-minute hat-trick when he ran onto a long ball over the top by Tim Sanders.
Leek kept plugging away and almost pulled a goal back on the half-hour when Matty Johnson’s cross was headed goalwards by Nick Ward only to bounce up and over the bar off a defender.
Nick Ward and Paul Rutter both tested the Kidsgrove defence before Blues were denied a clear penalty on 35 minutes when home defender Danny Schwarz blatantly handled in the area.
Walker rubbed salt into the wounds with his fourth on 38 minutes after Matt Haddrell flicked a corner for Walker to send a looping header home.
Johnson introduced himself and striker Leon Ashman as he attempted to turn things around and again Leek made a good start to the second-half, with Cope heading a Taylor free-kick straight at the keeper a minute in.
A Ward shot defleted to Ashman on 53 minutes but he fired wide and Bailey setup Ashman again on 55 minutes, but his shot cleared the crossbar before the Blues used their last substitute, with Dean Crowe replacing Cope.
On 65 minutes, a crunching tackle felled Bailey and he was forced off injured.
Three minutes later though, Miller finally gave the Leek supporters something to shout about when he jinked into the penalty area to slot home.
Steve Hodgson made a great save to prevent Walker’s strike partner and ex-Leek player Matt Haddrell getting onto the scoresheet on 70 minutes, but Walker made it five in the 83rd minute as the Blues were caught out by another quick counter-attack.
Rutter scored in the final minute of the game to maintain his impressive record of scoring seven goals in just nine appearances when he lobbed the ball over Steve Intihar in the home goal.
LEEK: Hodgson, P Johnson (W Johnson), P Taylor, Ward, Ruddock, Hawthorne, M Johnson (Ashman), Miller, Rutter, Cope (Crowe), Bailey; subs not used: Macari, Corden.
ATTENDANCE: 237.