Paul Turner was again the hat-trick hero as he took his tally to 13 for the season so far, with goals also coming from Tom Ince and Finlay Sinclair-Smith to ensure Town were able to secure their place in the next round.

The scoring was almost opened in the ninth minute when Newcastle’s number nine Niza Chizufya broke through on goal but his effort could only find the side netting, much to the relief of most of the 169 supporters in attendance.

After a flurry of Town chances in the following few minutes, the deadlock was finally broken. Longridge were awarded a penalty in the 15th minute after a shot was blocked by the arm of one of the defenders in blue, the referee pointed to the spot and captain Ince sent the keeper the wrong way, burying his shot in to the bottom left corner of the goal to make it 1-0.

Town were looking more like their creative selves after going ahead. Ryan McKenna slid a great ball through down the right to Dan Birch, who was causing all kinds of problems for the visitors, but his cross was eventually cleared by Newcastle goalkeeper Alexander Curran.

Newcastle were almost able to get back level with 26 minutes played but striker Lee Scott was unable to keep his header down from an in swinging corner and his effort blazed over.

Longridge were soon on the attack again, George Thomason played a commanding role in the midfield all afternoon, this time threading the ball through to Birch who again played the ball into the box with the visitors clearing for a corner.

Turner thought he had his first goal of the game as the corner came in and he struck the ball into the back of the net, but the linesman had other ideas as he flagged for offside.

The striker wasn’t wrong five minutes later though, as some great flowing football from the home side concluded with the young forward doubling Town’s lead as he fired home in the 38th minute to make it 2-0.

Lee Dovey hadn’t really been tested until this point, but Newcastle came back on the attack five minutes before half-time with Town’s number one making a brilliant save to deny the visitors their first goal of the game.

Lee Ashcroft’s men made sure they would go in at the break with a convincing lead after a great long ball from Thomason found Turner again who tapped the ball across the goal line from an acute angle. Newcastle defenders attempted a clearance on the line but the referee pointed to the restart with Town 3-0 up in the 43rd minute.

Longridge were looking particularly dangerous at this point as Sinclair-Smith danced through the Newcastle defence and fired a shot away, only for it to whistle wide just as the referee blew his whistle to signal half-time.

It was a steady start to the second half but in the 67th minute emotions started to get the better of some of the Newcastle University players who were taking their place in the FA Vase for the very first time. Joseph Robertson found himself as the first player to be sin binned at the MRG this season after throwing the ball away as Town won a free-kick, earning a yellow card from the referee for his efforts too.

Twelve minutes later, Town found themselves 4-0 up as Sinclair-Smith was rewarded for his efforts throughout the afternoon with a goal. Thomason put the forward through brilliantly, with his goal-bound effort bouncing awkwardly in front of Curran and ending up in the back of the net.

It could have been five or six for Town in the following minutes if it wasn’t for the efforts of Curran in the goal. Sinclair-Smith looked certain to have put the ball in the top right corner but the Newcastle shot stopper made a great save and tipped it out for the corner.

Moments later Ben Fletcher provided Sinclair-Smith with a great ball, he got his shot away but Curran again was there and made the block with his knees!

In the last couple of minutes tiredness began to show for the home side who were playing their fourth game in a week, as Jonothon Bennett was able to pull one back for the visitors to make it 4-1.

In the last minute of the ninety they got their second with Christopher Scott rifling the ball in at the far post to make it 4-2, though it was probably too late to mount a comeback.

Turner ensured of that in extra time as he netted his third hat-trick of the season. Sinclair-Smith took the ball to the by-line, finding Turner on the end of a cross who lashed the ball into the back of the net to make it 5-2 and completing his hat-trick of hat-tricks in the FA Vase, FA Cup and the League so far this season… all in August!

With that, the referee blew his whistle for full-time with Lee Ashcroft’s side progressing to the second round qualifying of the Buildbase FA
Vase, setting up a tie against AFC Blackpool to be played at the MRG on Saturday 14 September.

Before that though, the first team are back in League action as they travel to Barnoldswick Town next Saturday in a 3pm kick-off.

TOWN TEAM: Dovey, Birch (Murphy, 74), Wilkinson, McKenna, Tucker (Lawrence, 59), Thomason, Wicks, Fletcher, Turner, Ince ©, Sinclair-Smith

SUBS: Crowther (Lawrence, 71), Garstang, Maddox, Morris, Hunt

NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY TEAM: Curran, C Scott, Blanch ©, Robinson, Redford, Robertson, Neill, Christie, Chizufya, L Scott, Douglas

SUBS: Browne, Blackhouse, Hammett, Bennett, McAlindon