Northern League Division 1
22 April, 2009
Team: Peter Jeffries, Chris Killeen, Kyle Anderson, Arjun
Purewal, Paul Moss, Joe Grant, Amar Purewal, Stephen Salvin, Gavin Barton (Luke
Gilbert 90mins), Gavin Parkin (Craig Thorn 90mins), Darren Richardson (Joe
Fairish 53mins)
A scrappy game of half chances but three precious points for Bishop.
Morpeth’s first shot “on goal” after 10 minutes set the tone for much of the match. Stephenson, the Morpeth No 9, trapped an over the top ball well, but shot wide of the post.
End to end stuff, well, end to end of the middle third, until on 23 minutes Morpeth switched the ball to the advancing unmarked No 2, Newton-Eddy, who forced a good save at the near post from Jefferies.
The first real test for Wells in the Morpeth goal came on 25
minutes. A long ball from Jefferies was headed on by Parkin to
Bishops’ best chance of the half came on 32 minutes. A hard
won ball by Gavin Parkin was slotted out to Amar Purewal on the by-line. His
cross was volleyed goalwards by
On 41 minutes Salvin fouled his man on the half way line, the ref waved play-on only for Arjun Purewal to bring down his man just outside the box. (Salvin booked). The resulting free kick was curled past the Bishop wall, unfortunately for Morpeth it curled away from the goal.
Gavin Parkin looked likely to score on 43 minutes. Another good cross from Amar eventually reached Parkin who shot into the side netting.
The last move of the half came from Morpeth’s No 11, Jason Brazauskas. His well weighted cross was met by ex Bishop Neil Maddison whose header from 4 yards out sailed past the post again.
The second half began well for Morpeth. Stephenson’s dipping shot from distance on 50 minutes hit the top of the Bishops’ bar with Jefferies in close attendance.
Joe Fairish entered the field of play on 53 minutes to replace Darren Richardson. Almost immediately Joe Grant was brought down 30 yards out. Gavin Barton’s dipping free kick looked destined for a goal but was pushed for a corner by the ‘keeper.
Bishops’ goal came on 68 minutes. Kyle Anderson’s free kick from the half-way line was headed on by Salvin to Amar Purewal who took the ball down well on his chest past the Morpeth defence, his shot giving the ‘keeper no chance. 0 – 1.
Soon after the restart Darryl Hall, the garrulous Morpeth No.4 Hall, was booked for dissent.
Bishop were now under the cosh as Morpeth pushed for the equaliser. A goalmouth scramble on 78 minutes brought a shot from Stephenson that looked sure to hit the target but was again pulled wide.
Morpeth created lots of half chances with Bishop semingly incapable of clearing the ball. On 81 minutes Morpeth launched a good free kick into the Bishop box which was punted out wide by Moss, but only as far as Brazauskas whose cross rolled along the Bishop goal-line with no Morpeth player in reach to put it away.
83 minutes on the clock saw Joe Fairish booked for a needless foul. Morpeth continued to apply pressure on Jefferies in the Bishop goal.
Bishops’ only real chance in the last 15 minutes came again from Amar. He made a weaving run down the line and then cut inside the Morpeth defender before crossing to Gavin Parkin 10 yards out. Gavin’s snatched shot sailed high and wide.
The last few minutes brought flurry of substitutions. Morpeth’s
At the start of the match
the outspoken No4 for Morpeth’s rallying cry to his team was, “Come on you lot,
let’s have a say who is going down in this league.” With Bishop gaining all 3 points, hopefully they
did.