Easington Colliery prepare for Shildon test in League Cup final

Sign up to our daily newsletter Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Sunderland Echo, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Olly Hotchkiss wants to round off a positive season ‘on a real high’ by leading Easington Colliery to a Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup final win against Shildon on Monday. The Northern League Division One rivals will meet at Birtley Town’s Arrowmark Home Improvements Stadium as the Colliers look to claim silverware to round off what has been a solid first season back in step five of the non-league pyramid.

Advertisement Advertisement Speaking ahead of Monday’s final, the Colliers boss told The Echo: “It’s been a good first season in Division One for us - even though I’m a little bit disappointed we haven’t finished a little higher in the table because I feel like we have wasted some games and dropped some silly points. “But we are punching above our weight a bit here, we know that, and to reach the League Cup final is a massive moment for us. It won’t be easy at all and we know the quality of the opposition lying in wait - but we will give it our all and try and get a cup to end the season on a real high.



” Shildon will take momentum into Monday’s final after they landed a Division One play-off place and lifted silverware at the Stadium of Light with a 4-0 win in their Durham Challenge Cup final meeting with league rivals Whickham last Tuesday night. Although the main priority remains with promotion back into the Northern Premier League, Railwaymen boss Chris Hughes is targeting more silverware and challenged his players to build on their Challenge Cup final triumph. He said: “We obviously want to win the cup final on Monday after what we experienced with this Challenge Cup win and then there are the play-offs too - so it’s an exciting end to the season for us.

We had some experience of the play-offs last year and there are a lot of players here from then so hopefully we can fall back on that experience in those games. Advertisement Advertisement “Winning the Challenge Cup, with the pressure the lads thrived under during that game, it can help us over the next fortnight and we have some lads coming back at the right time. We have momentum, we have players coming back to fitness and we are going to have a right good go at trying to win each and every game between now and the end of the season.

” Your next Non-League read: Former Sunderland manager backs Gateshead boss Carl Magnay amid National League play-off push.