A second-half hat-trick from Connor Shields earned the Bonny Blues a first competitive home victory of the new season with a 3-1 victory over West Alllotment Celtic.

Connor Shields’ opener was cancelled out by a stunning overhead kick from Jacob Forster for the visitors, but Penrith dug deep to secure all three points with two late goals from Shields completing a memorable afternoon for the striker.

Dabba Hewson’s side were looking to respond to two successive home defeats at the Atkinson Building Contractors Stadium – the last of which was a 3-0 league defeat to North Shields on Wednesday night.

Penrith were quickest out of the blocks in the hopes of getting a more positive result, and Shields found his way through on goal within the first minute.

He fended off any pressure from the Allotment defence but couldn’t deliver an effort on target as he closed in on the goal.

Allotment had chances of their own in the first half but testing efforts were few and far between, until the 41st minute where Luke Miller was forced into his first save of the afternoon after a low effort in the box from Allotment’s Mikel Thompson.

The visitors came into the game winless in three Northern League Division One games at the start of the season, and they found themselves behind soon after the hour mark.

Shields was growing frustrated for the Bonny Blues after a number of missed efforts, but his persistence would pay off within a clinical 25-minute spell.

Matthew Story kept the ball alive at the back post before lofting the ball into Shields’ path who swooped the ball into the far bottom corner off balance.

The lead didn’t have the desired effect as a piece of individual brilliance from Forster soon pegged Penrith back; his calm touch in the box was followed by an overhead kick which left many of the crowd applauding the magical goal.

Despite the set-back Penrith would prevail, however the Bonny Blues did leave it late…

With just a few minutes to play Luke Brown’s cross from the right found its way to the back post, and Shields was there to direct his header into the ground before nestling in the bottom corner.

He soon added even more shine to a fine Penrith performance, as a break-away goal in added time helped Penrith to a second win in four league games.

Next up for the Bonny Blues is a trip to newly promoted Redcar Athletic on Wednesday.

TEAMS

PENRITH: Miller, Moynan (Hunter 58), Henderson, Davidson (C), Johnson, Story, Brown, Main (McKenna 74), Grandison (Williamson 71), Shields, Dean-Norman.

Unused subs: Green, Best.

WEST ALLOTMENT CELTIC: Hodgson, Higgins, Parkinson, Forster, Scott (C), Williams, Paterson, Errington, Walker (Hayton 60), Thompson (Larmouth 65), Martins.

Unused subs: Jones, Beeston, Trodd.

ATTENDANCE- 116