THIS was expected to be a closely fought battle between two teams separated only by a couple of places in the league and the first half certainly lived up to expectations.

Morpeth began well with some lovely interplay between Waters and Willis, Waters putting in a sublime pass to the Morpeth striker, whose shot just went wide of the right post.

Top-scorer Hughes looked on great form again with some penetrating runs through the defence and a series of shots from both him and Johnson were skilfully parried by the keeper before a superb header from Johnson finally eluded him, giving Morpeth their first goal.

Wallsend were only prevented from responding by some solid defending and the ever-reliable hands of keeper Jefferson.

Just before half-time, a lovely header from Willis, one of his many during the game, gave Johnson the opportunity for a further shot which was again expertly saved by the keeper.

Things were very different in the second half, with Morpeth dominating the play in all areas.

Within the first five minutes, a great run from Gill and beautiful cross from Johnson gave Hughes his first goal of the game and Morpeth's second.

Wallsend seemed ready to capitulate and Hughes quickly scored two more in close succession, the first from a goalmouth scramble when the keeper failed to hold onto the ball, the second from Gill's corner giving Hughes his hat-trick and making the score 4-0.

Johnson netted his well-deserved second after some precision control and a lovely finishing shot to make it 5-0. After a great run, a foul on Fox gave Morpeth a free kick just outside the area which Gill converted, looping the ball over the wall and scoring direct for number six.

A well-taken corner by Johnson was controlled by Fox and fired into the back of the net to finish the scoring for Morpeth.

The two teams meet again this Sunday at Morpeth for the final fixture of the season.

Man-of-the-match: Hughes.

Team: Jefferson, Baxter, Barnes, Fox, Thomson, Doyle, Gill, Hughes, Waters, Willis, Johnson. Substitute: English.