Alderley Edge men’s first team had the long journey to Newcastle University for a high noon clash of two teams looking for promotion into the North Premier Division.

Buoyed by two good wins last week, Edge were confident of overturning their poor run of results in Newcastle.

It was Edge who started the brighter, keeping good possession while forcing the students into errors and turnovers.

The opening goal came when Sam Gregory, Raj Ka and Joe Coxon combined for James Warburton to finish neatly.

Newcastle equalised against the run of play when they took advantage of Edge hesitancy over a disputed corner an nipped in for the leveller.

This sparked a short spell of pressure from Newcastle, but Chris Cook was in dominating form, winning several important tackles and ably supported by Julian Scarsbrook.

Newcastle’s gung-ho style meant an entertaining attacking game, but was their undoing as Edge broke away and Adam Wildig finished off a flowing move.

However, Edge were pegged back again when Kay was sinbinned after misjudging an aerial pass, and from the resulting corner, Newcastle equalised with a fierce strike.

With the numerical advantage Newcastle pushed forward and soon took the lead when Edge were slow to react after a shot was saved.

Back up to full strength Alderley turned the tide and started to put the pressure on their hosts.

They levelled when Sam Gregory turned the ball home, and with the game becoming end to end, retook the lead when a breakaway ended with Andy Taylor scoring.

Newcastle kept going though with James Riley forced into a couple of good saves as Alderley ran down the clock.

Next weekend Alderley face a crunch home game against Leeds before a second match against Stockton.

Two victories will see them on the verge of achieving their promotion objective.

The seconds are already celebrating as they won their league title with a 5-1 defeat of Colwyn Bay.

Chris Hardy bagged a brace with further goals coming courtesy of Laurence Barnes, Matt Hardy and Danny Butterworth.