Northern League Division One
29 October 2008
Bishop Auckland 1:
Team: Peter Jeffries, Lee Foster (Gus DiLella 54mins), Gary
Ankers, Lewis Hardman, Arjun Purewal, Gary Anderson (Craig
View from Reporter 1
For the fourth
successive game a Bishops' player conceded a penalty which the visitors duly
converted to wrap up the match and head north with 3 points.
Morpeth were held
up on the way to the game so the kick off was pushed back to 7.45pm on a
bitterly cold night at
Bishops immediately
attacked and Hardman caused chaos in Town's defence before being brought down
to win the Two Blues first penalty of the season. Gavin Barton's shot though was easily parried
by the goalkeeper.
Next major incident
was Morpeth's Grant being shown a straight red card for elbowing Barton.
Only Hardman was
creating chances for the home team and twice went close on 41 and 45 minutes.
Bishops' came out a
lot better in the 2nd half and played the ball on the ground with Hardman at
the centre of all the best moves. A shot from Hardman saw the midfielder crash
the ball into the net on 50 minutes. 1-1.
Despite being a man
down Morpeth continued to enjoy good possession though and there was panic in
the Bishops' area in the 55th minute before the ball was hoofed clear. O'Mahoney wasn't seeing much of the ball but
he was creating chances when he did and Barton headed over after some great
work from the Bishops' wingman.
Hardman shot over
in 69th minute but by this time the game was very open as both teams pressed.
Adam Strong broke through for the home team in the 80th minute but just
couldn't shake off the Morpeth 'keeper.
The defining moment
of the night was in the 86th minute when Gus Dilella inexplicably handled the
ball in front of the referee - penalty successfully taken 1-2. Later Adam Strong got himself into a great position
but missed a gaping goal in injury time and the last chance for a point was
lost.
A
bad night all round - own goal, missed penalty and beaten by ten men and the
team is rooted to 3rd bottom.
View from Reporter
2
An entertaining game, once again
our forwards facing a big physical back four, and they made head ground when
passing around and across the box.
Morpeth started the stronger
and threatened a few times, we seemed pegged back.
Then Bishops were really caught out back tracking,
with our keeper in no mans land, Gary Anderson under extreme
pressure slotted an own goal from 20 yards
Immediately we attacked and
won a penalty, Barton placing the ball to the keepers left and one of those
penalty's if you dive the right way you will save it and so the keeper did,
Barton was close to scoring off the rebound. curiously the referee re-position
the ball on the penalty spot three times before he allowed the kick, i wonder
how much this put off Gavin.
Morpeth maintained the upper
hand till the half hour mark, when an opposing player raised his hand at Liam
O'mahoney whom duly went down like a professional. From this Morpeth held their
own till half time and we were unable to break the ten men down.
First half hour of the second
half we threw the garden sink at morpeth and were unlucky on half a dozen
occasions not to add to our score. Lewis Hardman magnificently weaved his
way through and the resulting finish was excellent. We lost Lee
Foster to injury so reshuffled the back four with Gus dropping in to cover
though he was caught out with the pace of the game.
Alex Benjamin came on as sub
and really started to stretch our defence, the warning signs were there and for
the third game in a row we gave away a late penalty for hand ball. This time
Gus stood on around the penalty spot, a cross came in and the ball hit his arm.
Benjamin converted the penalty, a low shot to the keepers left and if Peter had
dived this way he would have saved the penalty.
View from Reporter 3
We
started very poorly against a big, but skill-free Morpeth team. After about 15
minutes,
Within
a minute there was a penalty to the Bishops …. Gavin Barton stepped up and
pushed a weak effort onto the keeper’s legs. Still 0 – 1 and the chill gripped
harder.
Shortly
afterwards a Morpeth player was sent off for what looked like use of the elbow.
Given this huge advantage, the Bishops reverted to a tactic not seen in recent
weeks – the aimless punt up into the air (we won NOTHING in the air all night),
alternated with a series of precision passes to players wearing yellow.
Absolutely awful stuff from a team which should have been able to win this by
four.
Half
time brought some relief from the misery, but not the cold.
Bishops
kicked off the second half looking far livelier and a long range free kick beat
the Morpeth keeper, but came back off the post and could not be bundled home.
An excellent goal from Hardman was the reward for our first quick, decisive,
passing movement with the ball played along the ground. The lumbering defence
was sliced open. 1 – 1.
In
the next few minutes, with Strong looking particularly lively, we should have
won the match – the ball needed only a touch on two or three occasions as it
was driven across the six yard box. On the other hand, any free kick or corner
for Morpeth caused panic stations.
Bishops
lost their impetus and nerves started to fray. We reverted to the boot into the
air, which was always easy for the giant, but lumbering, defenders. Despite
pleas from the support behind the goal, we were unable to put together the sort
of quick passing movement which had unlocked the defence for the equaliser.
Sure enough, on approximately 85 minutes (and to the complete misery of Tony
Duffy) a nothing ball bounced onto the hand of a Blue defender and the curse
had struck again. Penalty. Easy. 1 – 2.
A
few more minutes of frenzied, increasingly bad tempered attempts to get on
level terms before the ref put us out of our misery.
A
performance half as good as those against Synners and West Allotment would have
seen us win with ease. Sadly, on the night, we got exactly what we deserved.