Windscale picked up three Wearside League points on the road when they travelled to West Auckland to take on Three Tunns and came home with a 2-0 win.
The victory got the Atoms back on track following last week’s mediocre performance at home to Silksworth.
On a poor surface and with a strong wind making conditions very difficult, Windscale opted to play with the elements after winning the toss.
In the early passages of play the visitors made good use of their two wide men, Lewis Jolly and Leo Brennan and a score looked inevitable. However, they were to be denied on two separate occasions by the woodwork.
Kieran Fraser had the first effort, a glancing header against the crossbar.
Then Reece Fretwell was also unfortunate following good approach work to the edge of the Tunns box. Fretwell danced round two defenders to see his shot cannon back off the crossbar.
Despite constant pressure, Tunns were dangerous on the counter when the Atoms over committed too many players forward allowing the hosts to break.
It was Ross Leeson who broke the deadlock. From a corner delivered to the back post, Leeson threw himself at the ball sending it back across the face of the goal and into the far corner of the net. Leeson is proving to be a great asset in the air since his recent signing.
Three Tunns had a great chance to level the scores when Dan Morgan lost his footing on the edge of his penalty area and brought down an opponent, receiving a caution for his actions. The resulting free kick was powered into the Windscale defensive wall and subsequently cleared to safety.
The visitors’ second goal came about in bizarre circumstances. The ever-dangerous Jolly pounced on a through ball and found himself one on one with the home keeper.
Jolly looked to unselfishly square the ball to a team-mate, rather than take on a shot at goal himself, but the ball ended at the feet of a Tunns defender. Despite two unsuccessful attempts to hack the ball to safety, he sliced his third effort into his own goal to give the Atoms a 2-0 lead at the break.
Playing into the strong wind, very few chances were created afterwards although Windscale were still making better use of possession. The home side created their best chances from a number of corner kicks.
These were adequately dealt with by Windscale custodian, Ian Studholme, punching the ball away from danger or were headed clear by the visitors back line.
The Atoms’ game management and sensible use of their substitutes, bringing fresh legs into play, eventually saw them through to the final whistle and claim all the points on offer.
Windscale now have two further away games in consecutive weeks, both against promotion hopefuls, Darlington Town and Gateshead Leam Rangers.
