2006/7 Northern League Division 1
Northallerton Town 4 : Bishop Auckland 1
20 January, 2007
Team: Chris Porter, Steven Larkin (Dan Newby 45 mins), Steven Baynes, Paul Campbell, Nicky Mohan, Paul Collins, Joe Fairish (Max Applegarth 26 mins), Richie Storr, Jamie Clarke, Gavin Parkin, Dale Mendum (Andrew Fletcher 80 mins)
Bishops went into their seventh consecutive away fixture with Richie Ward injured, but an otherwise unchanged side, but by the end a sending off and numerous injuries left the team in disarray.
The match started on a boggy pitch made worse by a torrential downpour 15 minutes before kick off with a strong wind blowing across the ground making conditions almost impossible to play any decent football.
Northallerton missed a couple of early chances and Joe Fairish was unlucky with an attempted lob at the other end, and scores were level when the match was swung irrevocably in the home sides favour on 20 minutes.
Paul Collins was adjudged to have committed a professional foul as a Town forward dived headlong into the mud. The red card brought shameful celebrations from the home 'keeper, and he was shouting again second later when Kasonali fired in the resulting free kick.
Bishops struggled to get back into the game with Applegarth coming on to fit into a back four but just before half time an equaliser came from the boot of Nicky Mohan. The free-kick for a foul on Larkin was taken quickly by the alert central defender who blazed the ball home from all of 40 yards.
Even this great moment had it's dark side, as Larkin was unable to continue after the foul, and was replaced by Dan Newby on the stroke of half time.
The wind, the pitch and the man advantage allowed Northallerton to build up a pressure which always looked like being too much for the makeshift back four and the inevitable happened on 67 minutes when Town scored again.
Clarke almost equalised minutes later when his shot from a tight angle after a strong run hit the side netting, and Clarke also had a decent penalty shout turned down before the result was decided with a third home goal.
A nasty injury to on of the Town defenders saw a lengthy delay and a further goal was added after the restart to give Northallerton a flattering 4-1 victory.