THE game got off to a nervous start, with the home side pumping men forward and earning a penalty corner doing so, writes Matty Francis.

The Lions' defence stayed strong, with the subsequent drag flick being saved by the Oxton Keeper and from this the away side countered and earned their first PC of the game, which was despatched expertly into the top left corner by Man Of The Match Ali Mckenzie.

Goals two and three came not too long after with Francois Clavaud as he rounded the keeper to finish into an empty net, and Ali Mckenzie got his second of the match in somewhat less emphatic style.

The half ended well for the Lions with a thunderbolt from Dan Hibbert, rifling into the top left corner to take the away side into the interval 4-0 up.

It was clear the home side wanted to break the Oxton defence down, however this was temporarily halted when Ali Mckenzie got his first Hat Trick of the season with a carbon copy of the first strike, leaving the keeper with no chance.

At 5-0 Gateshead still looked as if they could score and two minutes after the outstanding Nik Heyes came off for the away side, a man was left unmarked on the far post who slotted away easily to deny Oxton back-to-back clean sheets.

The home side doubled their tally five minutes later from a very similar situation, the shot ricocheting unfortunately off Matt Francis' keeper pads to roll into the open goal.

Oxton were not done at five and the pick of the goals came as Hat-Trick hero Ali Mckenzie became provider, to find Ethan Price unmarked in the box who buried the ball into the side netting to make it Six Of The Best.

7-2 would be the final score as the MOTM finished a simple rebound to send Oxton fourth in the North Premiership, with Formby to come next at Caldy this Saturday, October 17, at 3pm.