Northern League Division 1
18 March, 2009
Bishop Auckland 1 : Penrith 0
Team: Peter Jeffries, Arjun Purewal, Kyle Anderson, Joe Grant,
Martin Langley (Steven West 55mins), Paul Moss, Amar Purewal, Stephen Salvin,
Gavin Barton, Gavin Parkin, Craig Thorn (Adam Strong 69 mins)
Bishops revival continued with a quick return victory over
Penrith at
Bishops made a nervous start with Arjun Purewal underpowering a
back header which was clipped over Jeffries, but Moss got back to clear the
danger.
Stephen Salvin finally broke his goalscoring duck since
returning to the club when on 16 minutes the ball bobbled in a crowd of players
before Salvin blazed the ball into the top corner of the net from 15 yards out.
Bishops looked solid at the back and continued to press up front
and were unlucky not to double the lead on 35 minutes. Barton fought for the ball, winning it and
knocking it home but the “goal” was disallowed for an extremely harsh high
feet.
Steven West replaced Martin Langley on 55 minutes.
Bishops defended deep and pushed hard on the break for a second
goal in the second half, but were unable to get the ball in the net. On 63 minutes Amar Purewal ran through the
defence. Barton eased the defence to
clear a gap but Amar blazed up and over.
Jeffries made a great low save on 65 minutes when Penrith’s bad
tempered defender Mark Birch unleashed a long range shot. The ‘keeper saved the shot low down and also
saved the follow up shot, deflecting it up and over the bar.
Adam Strong replaced Craig Thorn on 69 minutes and the fresh
legs proved a useful vehicle to keep the ball in the Penrith half and help run
the clock down.
A great move from Barton and Amar Purewal on 72 minutes set up
Parkin for a shooting opportunity but the shot flew wide.
Mark Birch had ridden his luck with the officials until 78
minutes but then his luck ran out. Having
received a yellow card in the first half for hurling abuse at the linesman, he’d
received two further long “talkings to” before he petulantly humped the ball
away after the ball went out for a throw in giving the referee little choice
but to send him off. A couple of minutes
later he finally left the field.
Bishops missed four good chances in the final five minutes with
Parkin blazing over the bar from a decent position on the edge of the box. Then Adam Strong put in an excellent cross to
Barton but the ball deflected off a defender’s leg and into the fortunate
keeper’s hands. Three minutes from time
and Salvin was pushed in the back when challenging in the air for the ball in
the box, but no penalty. In injury time
Barton was set up by Strong but the ‘keeper
A great win which lifts Bishops to third from bottom and raises
the possibilty of first division survival which seemed so unlikely a month ago.