Northern League Division 1
9 February 2008
Team: Peter Keen, Lee
Foster (Carl Chillingsworth 81mins), Dominic Gamble, Paul Crager, Paul Moss,
Christopher Gilligan, Stuart Campbell (Lee Ellison 72mins), Luke Ball, Andrew
Harrison, Gavin Parkin, Sean Joseph
A spectacular end to an entertaining game littered with
chances at both ends as Gavin Parkin completed his hat-trick in injury time to
grab a vital point for the Bishops.
After a busy time since the last game at Morpeth, Bishops
gave debuts to three new players and Lee Ellison returns to the club after
almost a decade away with a place on the bench.
Billingham made the best start with a fifth minute header
cleared off the line by Sean Joseph with ‘keeper Keen beaten. A minute later Keen made a fantastic save,
diving low to his left to push a fierce shot wide.
Bishops had the next chance on seven minutes when Joseph’s
corner was headed by Moss but just wide of both the far post and Andrew
Harrison’s outstretched leg. Bishops
were ahead on 12 minutes though when Crager fired a 50 yard pass over the
Parkin had another chance a minute later when
Sean Joseph made a chance on 28 minutes when he collected a
through ball and shot the ball across goal, but a deflection took the ball just
behind
Billingham finishe the half stronger and missed a couple of
decent chances before Parkin’s shot on 45 minutes was parried wide by the
flying ‘keeper.
The home side dominated the early exchanges of the second
half. On 50 minutes Keen tipped a shot
onto the bar and Moss cleared the danger.
A minute later a close range shot was somehow lobbed onto the top of
Bishops net with the goal wide open.
Bilingham piled on the pressure and it was no surprise when
Billingham’s equaliser came on 59 minutes, and a second goal on 62 minutes left
Bishops chasing the game. On 66 minutes
Bishops were unlucky not to be level when a corner was cleared only as far as
Lee Ellison was introduced on 72 minutes and had a couple of
decent touches as Bishops pushed forward for an equaliser, and Lee Foster was
replaced by Carl Chillingsworth on 81 minutes to leave Bishops with four
strikers at the death. Billingham looked
to have wrapped the game up on 88 minutes when Keen allowed a fairly weak shot
to bounce over his body and ito the net to make it 3-1.
However, Gavin Parkin thought otherwise and the attacking
Crager set up his second of the game when he flighted in a cross from the right
wing for Parkin to guide a header home to make it 3-2 on 89 minutes.
The comeback was complete on 90 minutes when Sean Joseph’s
run from the left was ended by a spectacularly clumsy challenge which lifted
the Bishops winger off his feet right in the goal-line corner of the eighteen
yard box. Parkin took the ball, sent the
‘keeper the wrong way, and stroked it home just inside the left hand post to
make it 3-3.