Northern League Division 1
12 December, 2009
Ashington 3
: Bishop Auckland 1
Ashington – Karl Dryden / Alex Houlsby / Marc Walmsley / Scott Blandford (Andrew Carr 76 mins) / Liam Atkin / Iain Nickalls / Andrew Johnson / Mark O’Dea / Lee Hamilton (Gareth Bainbridge 64 mins) / Keith Douglas / David Colvin (Paul Dunn 76 mins)
Only 3 substitutes named.
Bishop Auckland – Peter Jeffries / Chris Lawson / Simon Ord / Wayne Clarke / Arjun Purewal / Joe Grant (Paul Moss 55 mins) / Adam Strong / Stephen Salvin / Tyson Masters / Harry Drummond / Adam Emson
Substitutes not used – Ryan Graham & Steven West
The Bishops were still unable to select forwards, Wayne Gradziak, Amar Purewal and Darren Richardson plus midfielder Mark Henson whom are all injured. The only change to the line up from last week’s home win, over Esh Winning was the return of Simon Ord to the left back position with Paul Moss making way and named as one of the three available substitutes.
On a mild December afternoon the Bishops battled throughout the game though were undone by Collier wingers of Andrew Johnson and David Colvin whom both were outstanding when given space to attack the Bishops back four.
The Bishops took the lead in the ninth minute, Stephen Salvin and Tyson Masters combined deep inside the Ashington box to set up Adam Emson at the far post whom cleverly made space to lob the ball home from 8 yards out which just evaded Liam Atkin’s valiant effort to hook the ball off the line. Bishop had deserved to take the lead after exerting early pressure on the home goal with many probing passes and runs which the Colliers defence found difficulty in dealing with.
Few chances created by either side up to the mid way point of the first half, in the 26th minute an Iain Nickalls throw-in inside the Colliers half was adjudged to have been a foul throw by the referee.
Simon Ord’s throw was held up by Salvin whom laid it back to Ord and the left back flighted the perfect cross deep into the Ashington box, Karl Dryden the Ashington keeper and Masters both jumped for the cross with the keepers outstretched hand pushed the ball away from Masters head and the keeper reacted superbly picking up the loose ball with Adam Strong ready to pounce.
This let off spurred the home side on as they dominated the last quarter of an hour of the first half. Sweeping moves from the Ashington defence whom laid off cross-field balls to both wings was the feature of their attacks. Colvin, Johnson and Hamilton all went close to scoring before the home side did equalise in the 34th minute.
A right wing corner by Colvin dropped into the crowded Bishop six yard box, with everybody hesitating apart from Colliers captain Iain Nickalls who watched the ball bounce in front of him before unleashing a powerful drive into the Bishop goal from the edge of the 6 yard box.
The home side continued to pile on the pressure and took the lead in the 39th minute, a long crossfield ball by Atkin found Johnson unmarked on the right wing and at great speed he advanced forward to just inside the Bishops box. With Jeffries advancing his shot came off the left hand post with Colvin in acres of space to drive home with Jeffries back peddling trying to cover the open goal.
In a rare Bishop attack late in the first half the Bishops could have equalised in a well worked move which lacked execution, a Harry Drummond free kick from the left was brilliantly back headed by Salvin at the left hand post which fooled the Colliers defence and three Bishop players queued up at the far post though all managed to leave the ball and one had strayed off side to the great annoyance of Salvin.
Half Time – Ashington 2 Bishop Auckland 1
As in the first half it was the Bishops whom started the second half the brighter, Emson saw his 30 yard free kick well saved by Dryden and the keeper just saved a 20 yard shot from Salvin when it appeared he stopped himself from slipping to gather Salvin’s shot.
In another attack, Salvin terrorised the home defence though unfortunately drove his shot well over the bar when all hoped it would be the equaliser.
The Bishops suffered a massive blow when young hard working midfielder Joe Grant had to be stretchered off in the 55th minute and he was replaced by Paul Moss. The loss of Grant certainly affected the Bishops rhythm and suffered another blow some six minutes later when the home side went 3-1 up. A breathtaking move between Colvin and Johnson was halted by Wayne Clarke whom intercepted a through ball to Keith Douglass by clearing the danger for a corner.
Colvin’s resultant corner was flicked on by Johnson to
Ashington continued to dominate the play and were awarded a penalty in the 75th minute, this after a Colvin cross was shielded by substitute Gareth Bainbridge whom was unmarked and forced keeper Jeffries to made a desperate attempt to clear the ball which resulted him in dragging down the Ashington substitute.
Keith Douglass fired the penalty against the base of the left hand post with Jeffries guessing the right way and the Bishop’s defence cleared the danger. Ashington then made their final two substitutions taking off the effective Blandford and the excellent Colvin.
The Colliers pressure eased off and the Bishops tried in vain to pull a goal back in the last ten minutes. Emson in the 83rd minute brilliantly weaved his way past three Collier players inside the box to square the ball to Masters whom superbly turned his marker inside out though the ball fell to his weaker left foot and he failed to connect properly allowing the home keeper to gather the ball.
Make no mistake about this Ashington team whom can all play football which was very noticeable with defenders, they are creditable title challengers and the Bishops did make it difficult for their hosts and visibly shocked them with the bright start and early goal.
Central pairing Arjun Purewal and Wayne Clarke both individually and collectively played well this afternoon breaking down numerous Collier attacks. The effort, commitment and desire was with the Bishop team today and just hope young Joe Grant’s injury isn’t as serious as it looked.
Full Time Score – Ashington 3 Bishop Auckland 1
Iain Nickalls 34 mins Adam Emson 9 mins,
David Colvin 39 mins
Lee Hamilton 61 mins