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17 March 2007

Just Champion!

Coalville Town 3rd XI  6  Barton 3rd XI  0

DTZ 3rd XI East Midlands Division One

Chris Pearson smashed a hat-trick as Coalville Town's third string claimed the DTZ East Midlands Division One title with a 6-0 thumping of Barton at King Edward VII College.

The win made it 18 games unbeaten in the league as Town haven't lost since the opening day of the season, and the win was never really in doubt against a battling Barton side who desperately needed the points to avoid the drop.

Coalville's third string celebrate after winning the league

Town started solidly, but the visitors threatened to spoil Coalville's party early on and only a superb save from Greg Tongue denied a Barton forward.

This seemed to liven Town up and from a penalty corner, Darren Conway's mis-hit strike ended up in the path of James Woodard who swept home Coalville's opening goal.

Coalville now moved up through the gears and soon doubled their lead with an excellent goal. Conway and Dave Mee combined and Mee played the ball into the path of Carl Clay. The Town forward controlled before a nifty piece of stick work allowed him to reverse stick the ball into the corner of the goal to make it 2-0.

Town continued to apply pressure on the Barton defence after this, and Gareth Toyer could have added to the scoreline but could only manage to put a good chance wide of the mark.

The champagne begins to flow - skipper Darren Conway and top scorer Gareth Toyer soak each other

But shortly before half time Coalville did get a third goal when Pearson latched onto the ball from Andy Greaves' pass and smashed the ball into the goal from a tight angle.

That was half-time and Coalville knew they more or less had the title in the bag, but they weren't about to slacken up. The defence of Simon Calkin, Simon Wyatt, Greaves and Adam Whitehall continued to provide the foundation with an all round solid showing.

A foul inside the area on the livewire Pearson resulted in Coalville winning a penalty corner. Clay had a go at a trademark flick, but the Barton keeper managed to block the effort. Unfortunately for Barton, the ball bobbled into the path of Pearson who gobbled up the opening to make it 4-0.

The game was now all one-way, although to their credit Barton never gave up the fight. But another penalty corner soon made it 5-0. Clay again drag flicked towards goal and brought a fine save out of the Barton keeper. But this time leading scorer Toyer was on hand to bundle the rebound home.

Coalville then got their crowning glory with a superb goal to make it 6-0 a couple of minutes before the end. Pearson picked the ball up just inside the Barton half and drove forward, beating a couple of tackles and getting into the dee. He made a little bit of room, before blasting an absolute rocket of a shot into the top corner of the goal to complete his hat-trick - and let the celebrations truly begin!

Town finish their season with a tough trip to fourth-placed Nuneaton, hoping to keep their unbeaten run since the opening day of the season going.