Northern League Division 1
6 October 2007
West Allotment Celtic 1 : Bishop Auckland 4
Team: Chris Porter, James
Crossman, Dominic Gamble, Daryll Evans (Darren Richardson 54mins), Paul Crager,
Paul Griffith, Dale Mendum, Joe Fairish, Gavin Parkin, Ben Jackson, Bryan
Stewart (Rob Stewart 63mins)
Steve Howey took charge of the
team for the return fixture with West Allotment Celtic. Only Ben Jackson was added to the squad for
today’s match and with players unavailable or injured Bishops had only fourteen
fit players for the fixture.
The match kicked off on the
predictably perfect surface, on an unusually hot October afternoon. Bishops had the first real chance on eleven
minutes when Fairish crossed from the left on eleven minutes. Stewart took the ball down on his chest
expertly but fired wide from the corner of the six yard box.
However, Bishops were ahead on 16
minutes. Ben Jackson rode a challenge
and fired a shot from around 25 yards.
The shot was heading hopelessly wide but flew into the path of Bryan
Stewart who reacted brilliantly to guide his header over
After dominating the early
exchanges, Bishops were pushed back as the half wore on and were lucky to
escape on 20 minutes when a West corner was fired goalwards, but hacked off the
line by captain Crager. A series of
corners were survived, but on 32 minutes Michael Fenwick rose to head home from
close range from another flag kick to make it 1-1.
Bryan Stewart was off receiving
treatment late in the first half but during that period Gavin Parkin carved out
a chance to shoot from the edge of the box which the ‘keeper parried and
recovered at the second attempt.
Bishops were ahead on 52
minutes. Joe Fairish found space on the
right and crossed to Parkin who rose to head home at the back post to make it
2-1. The goal gave Bishops extra confidence,
and after West squandered a great chance to equalise, Bishops were on top for
the duration.
Ben Jackson
scored a third on 71 minutes when his shot from 12 yards was deflected past the
home keeper. Porter made a good save
pushing a long range shot over the bar a minute later.
On 73 minutes
Crager headed a corner inches wide as chances continued to be created. The scoring ended on 81 minutes when
substitute
The win pushes
Bishops into tenth place, and with two games this week there is a good chance
to make some real progress up the league.