Opposition	Iron Horse
Competition	2nd Division Cup - Semi Final
Venue	Away – Aycliffe Sports Complex

 

We were facing the Iron Horse for the second time in two weeks and were hoping for a vast improvement from last week, as we had the largest squad available to us for some time.

The lads were fired up at the prospect of a final and got off to a decent start, more than matching the DL5er’s in the first half, despite playing into a strong wind.  There were few chances in the first period and it wasn’t until the referee awarded a penalty for handball against Paul Gibson that either keeper had a save to make.  The penalty decision was hotly disputed as the ball appeared to strike Paul on the chest.  Our appeals were waved away and the penalty was blasted high into the top, left hand corner, giving Henderson no chance.

The mood was good at half-time, despite being behind and 10 minutes into the second half we equalised after a deep cross from Michael Condron evaded the Aycliffe defence was controlled by Stephen Hall and slotted underneath the advancing keeper.

Our goal gave the lads more hope, with our pacy front two causing problems for the Aycliffe defence and the next major incident came when Tommy Louden chased a long ball and was clumsily taken out on the edge of the box by the Aycliffe sweeper.  The referee deemed this to have been a professional foul and brandished a red card, much to the dismay of the player and his sideline.

Despite being reduced to 10 men, Aycliffe did not give up attacking and regained the lead when their striker found the bottom corner of the net.

With time running out we began to exert more pressure and equalised with 5 minutes to go when Ross Brown looped a header into to the top, left hand corner over the helpless keeper.

No further goals came and extra time followed.  At full time, confidence was high as it was expected that we could take advantage of our numerical advantage, however, it was again Aycliffe who took the lead, following some sloppy Fox defending.

Into the second period of extra time, the game was over when the ref showed a second yellow card to Lee Robertson and Aycliffe scored from the resulting free-kick.

The was mass disappointment amongst the lads afterwards as we felt the game should have been won in normal time – still, we can now “concentrate on the league” and try to gain our second promotion in successive seasons.

Team

D Henderson, T Minns (Capt), P Gibson, S Breckon, C Tweddle, M Condron, M Roberts, N Wilson, R Brown, S Hall, T Louden.  Subs: L Robertson, M Garnett, C Bainbridge, J Richardson, S Dunn

Scorers

S Hall, R Brown

Man of the Match

M Roberts

 

 

Opposition	Iron Horse
Competition	League
Venue	Away – Aycliffe Sports Complex

With only three league games left to secure promotion to the first division, we were hoping to secure at least a point against the and champions-elect, Iron Horse.

A number of key players were again missing for us, although we were able to welcome skilful playmaker, Neil Wilson, back after missing a number of weeks.

We did not get off to the best of starts, as the Iron Horse attacked down their right, with their winger crossing to set up a simple tap-in for their big striker to open the scoring.

Despite the set-back, our heads did not drop and we equalised when a long throw from Roberts dropped straight to the feet of Kriss Hall, who gratefully knocked the ball over the line.

The goal gave us hope and we had our best spell of football, with Wilson particularly catching the eye, however, the Iron Horse regained the lead when another cross from the right was met with a firm header from the Hoss striker, which gave Henderson no chance.

At half-time, there was still plenty to play for, however, three further goals from Aycliffe saw them run out 5-1 winners.

Despite the result, we remain in second spot, however, even two wins from our remaining two games does not guarantee promotion.

Team

D Henderson, J Richardson, P Gibson, S Breckon, C Tweddle, M Lumley, M Condron, M Roberts, N Wilson, A Bell, K Hall.  Subs: C Bainbridge, M Gowland

Scorers

K Hall

Man of the Match

N Wilson

Match Report – 9th March 2008

Opposition	Hogan's
Competition	2nd Division Cup - Group A
Venue	Away – Eldon Lane

This was our final game of four in the group stage of the 2^nd Division Cup and a win was required to give us any chance of progressing as we had won one, drawn one and lost one of our previous three games.

Despite having a number of senior players absent, confidence was high as we had beaten Hogans 6-0 in a recent league game.  We were helped by the fact that Hogans could only muster 10 players, however, it was the opposition who took the lead with their lone striker firing low into the corner, following a defensive mistake.

We managed to get our act together and, despite playing into the teeth of a gale, we equalised on 20 minutes – John Richardson played a delightful, long, diagonal ball over the top of the defence which Michael Condron controlled on his chest before dispatching a low short into the bottom left corner.  Hogans then suffered an injury to their centre-half who had to leave the field, although he did reappear later.

The half-time whistle was welcome as it meant we had the benefit of the wind and on 55 minutes, we took the lead when Kriss Hall beat the offside trap before firing a low shot across the keeper into the bottom left hand corner – well done to Kriss for managing to get a shot on target!  We continued to attack and Hogan’s keeper made three outstanding saves from Richardson, Michael Roberts and Condron before we finally got our third.  Hall played a long ball which was taken by Roberts, who held off his marker before finishing. The fourth followed soon after when Condron scored the goal of the game, smashing the ball high into the net from the edge of the box after Hogans had failed to clear a corner.  It was 5-1 on 80 minutes when Roberts scored directly from a corner – he claims it was a moment of brilliance – the truth is that it was a wind-assisted fluke!!! 

With the last touch of the game, Condron completed his hat-trick with a diving header from a great cross from the evergreen veteran Matthew Garnett.  Congratulations to Michael on his first hat-trick for the club, which meant he won his bet from (permanently injured) club captain, Robbie Appleby.  Robbie says that he will buy Michael the two pints as soon as he is old enough to drink!!!!!

All round, a cracking performance from a side which included 7 teenagers.

Team

D Henderson, J Richardson, P Gibson, S Breckon, C Tweddle, M Lumley, M Condron, M Roberts, M Garnett, S Dunn, K Hall.  Sub: C Bainbridge

Scorers

M Condron (3) M Roberts (2), K Hall

Man of the Match

M Condron

Opposition	Shildon Athletic
Competition	League
Venue	Away – Thompson’s Field, Shildon

This was a very important game for us to win if we were to continue our promotion push as we were next to each other in the league.

Our manager, Wayne Mundy, had a strong side to choose from as Paul Gibson had returned from his honeymoon (Congratulations to Paul & Nicola from all the lads) and our Captain, Terry Minns, who was missing last week due to family commitments.

The game started brightly for us, coming out on top in the early exchanges with Michael Roberts being on top form.  It was Michael who managed to open the scoring, taking a neat pass before lofting a shot into the top, left-hand corner of the Athletic net, beating his friend and our ex-keeper, Daniel Jeffrey after 10 minutes.

We continued with our strong passing game and, after a few good chances being missed, we doubled our lead with veteran Allan Bell tapping in at the far post after good work from Lumley and Kriss Hall after 30 minutes.

At half-time, the mood was good and “more of the same” was the message to the lads.

We had a number of chances in the 2^nd half, with Chris Tweddle and Roberts both hitting the bar, although we could not add to our league.  Athletic became more and more desperate as the game wore on and a save at full strength from Daniel Henderson and a last-ditch tackle from Stewart Breckon ensured that we kept a clean sheet and took all three points.

Team

D Henderson, J Richardson, P Gibson, S Breckon, C Tweddle, M Lumley, M Condron, M Roberts, T Minns, A Bell, K Hall.     Subs: M Garnett, C Bainbridge, S Dunn, Gowland.

Scorers

M Roberts, A Bell

Man of the Match

M Roberts