Benfield led through Promise Nzumba before Nathan Greenwood equalised for the Colliers. Liam Adamson put the Colliers ahead in first half added time, and he added to his tally in the second half with his second and Easington’s third.

On a pleasant afternoon at Easington Welfare Park, it was a relatively quiet start, with only half chances in the opening 15 minutes. Benfield had a couple of headers fail to find the target, while Adamson had three half chances for the Colliers. The first two missed the target, and the third was saved.

In the 17th minute, Benfield went close when a strike crashed back off crossbar, and then Colquhoun for the visitors had a tame effort saved.

Just before the half hour mark, Benfield took the lead. A corner was swung into the penalty area and not cleared, and it eventually dropped to Nzumba who converted from close range.

The Colliers responded by equalising seven minutes later. Reece Kenney’s ball down the right released Greenwood who had beaten the offside trap, and he took aim with a very well struck first time effort from a tight angle which found the far corner.

In first half additional time, the Colliers took the lead. James Watson lifted a cross into the penalty area, and Adamson drilled a difficult first time volley into the net to send the Colliers into the break ahead.

Few chances worthy of note were created in the opening exchanges of the second half. A dangerous Benfield free-kick was fired over the crossbar, and it was only awarded after the referee initially pointed to the penalty spot before changing to a free-kick.

That was about it until the 69th minute when the Colliers created a couple of big opportunities. Firstly, Adamson burst across the edge of the penalty area to create room for himself, but his shot was narrowly too high.

Seconds later, Denny Tapping was released through down the right hand side, but Benfield goalkeeper James Hughes made himself big to save.

With 13 minutes to play, the Colliers doubled their lead as Adamson scored his 24th goal of the season. A ball was threaded through to Adamson who beat the offside trap, and he took the ball round the goalkeeper before firing high into the net.

James Hopkinson was forced into a smart save with five minutes play as Benfield looked to make it interesting, but that proved to be the final chance of the game as the Colliers picked up another good three points to stay top of Northern League Division One.

Full-time: Easington Colliery 3-1 Newcastle Benfield

Easington Colliery: Hopkinson, Maw, Ord, Kenney (c) (Stanton, 72′), Agnew, Taylor (Eltringham, 61′), Greenwood (Walton, 82′), Watson, Hennis, Herron (Tapping, 54′), Adamson

Unused sub: Pearn

Newcastle Benfield: Hughes, Simpson, Jack Watson, Duffy (Boertein, 79′), Varga (c), Ames, Wilson, Roys, Nzumba, Colquhoun (Lewis Watson, 79′), Small

Unused subs: Morton, Lant, Shane-Stone

Attendance: 170

Referee: Martin Dunn