Northern League Division 1

12 March 2008

Bishop Auckland 2 : Bedlington Terriers 2

Team: Peter Keen, Lee Foster, Dominic Gamble, Gary Rowbotham, Martin Langley, Paul Crager, Joe Fairish, Luke Ball, Gavin Parkin, Carl Chillingsworth, Iain Davies

Brian Honour resolved his injury crisis by throwing two Hartlepool United youngsters into this vital relegation dog fight. The match was played on yet another windy day, with a gale blowing end to end on a cold Shildon evening.

Kicking with the wind to assist, Bishops made a nightmare start, and Peter Keen had already made one good save before Bedlington took the lead on 9 minutes when Reay headed in unchallenged from inside the six yard box.

Bedlington coped comfortably as the first half ticked away, as Bishops struggled to come to terms with the conditions. Chances had been few and far between until the game was turned on its head in the final minutes of the first half.

Gavin Parkin scored his 15^th of the season when he chested down a through ball and chipped Dryden from the edge of the area to make it 1-1. Bishops were on the up.

On 44 minutes a left wing corner from Fairish which held up in the wind saw Chillingsworth stooping to head, but the ball was deflected out for another corner. The right wing corner drifted to the far post and Langley rose to power a header into the opposite corner of the goal. 2-1, but the elements would be against the home side in the second half.

Bishops completely dominated the second half and were unlucky not to extend the lead in the opening minutes of the second half when first Rowbotham had a low shot blocked by Dryden. Seconds later Ball fed Parkin whose close range stab was smothered by Dryden. The Blues dominated possession, but with only a goal in it, danger was always just around the corner.

On 77 minutes a free kick conceded on the edge of the area was deflected, but Keen dived low to push the ball out for a corner.

Davies made a great run down the left on 80 minutes and hurdled a reckless challenge, kept his feet, but had his low shot well saved. A minute later, good work by Fairish saw the ball fed low into the area for Chillingsworth who stumbled with the goal at his mercy and watched it bounce past his nose with the goal gaping.

On 83 minutes Chillingsworth charged down a back pass, but the keeper’s clearance deflected off the striker, but flew a few feet wide of the goal.

The moment happened on 85 minutes. A Bedlington attack left a striker prone eight yards from goal. The ball was cleared to the half way line. The Bedlington trainer had already taking a few tentative steps onto the playing area when the Terriers winger chose to play on, and crossed the ball into the area. The majority of the players had already stopped playing when the ball was delivered from the right wing. Only Langley was playing to the whistle. He hopped over the prostrate forward to head the ball into his own net.

The goal was awarded, to the fury of Peter Keen whose protest earned him a red card. Iain Davies took his place in goal.

The game concluded without further incident, but Bishops had thrown away two points and handed relegation rivals a huge lift.

Fixtures and Results