Northern League Division 1
27 March, 2010
Bishop Auckland 2 : Ryton 0
Bishop Auckland – Peter Jeffries / Chris Lawson / Tom Blackett (booked 28mins) / Wayne Clarke / Arjun Purewal / Joe Grant (Simon Ord 64mins) / Amar Purewal (Darren Richardson 74mins) / Stephen Salvin / Wayne Gredziak (Harry Drummond 82 mins) / Steven Turnbull / Adam Emson
Subs not used – Ryan Graham / Jake Richardson
Ryton – Gareth Powell / James Allsopp / Ryan Bell / Craig Marron (Stephen Burns 11 mins) / Ross Preston / John Parker / Andrew Barclay / Craig Robson / Richard Logan (Steven Aiston 71st minute) / Kevin Dixon / Andrew Innes
Subs not used – Craig Knowlson & James French – only 4 named.
Bishops made one enforced change to the line up from last weeks stunning win at Newcastle Benfield, Amar Purewal started in place of Adam Strong whom is away on holiday.
The pitch was hard in areas and a little bobbly in places and to add a slight swirling wind made conditions difficult to anticipate the flow of play. The Bishops nearly found themselves a goal behind after only 4 minutes, great Ryton build up play stretched the home defence to the limit with Bishops keeper Peter Jeffries brilliantly palming a powerful close range Richard Logan header onto the post with Chris Lawson on hand to clear the danger.
Two minutes later and the Bishops created their first attempt on goal, a Ryton clearance was met by Arjun Purewal just inside the visitors half, and his full blooded looping header fell to Wayne Gredziak whom made a yard of space though fired over from the edge of the box.
In the 17th minutes, youngster Tom Blackett superbly won a brave tackle near the half way line and played a ball of absolute quality down the flank to Adam Emson whom tried in vain to out-wit two defenders when closing in on goal.
Two minutes later Jeffries pumped in his trade mark long goal kick that reached the last third of the field with Gredziak first to it though he fired over with his back to goal.
In the 26th minute, Jeffries took a free kick just inside the Bishops half which was half cleared with Blackett picking up the loose ball on the left wing, he advanced cleverly beating two Ryton players and drove narrowly wide of the front post from just inside the box.
On the half hour the Bishops had to be thankful to Arjun
Purewal whom cut out a Parker through ball to
Bishops best chance of the first half came in the 34th minute, when another Lawson long throw was headed on by Stephen Salvin with central defender Ross Preston half clearing the danger to the unmarked Emson whom fired in a powerful low drive just inside the box which Ryton keeper Gareth Powell brilliantly saved despite his vision being impaired in a crowded penalty area.
Ryton missed another golden chance to take the lead two minutes later. A Ryan Bell free kick from the right was headed on by John Parker to the unmarked advancing Andrew Barclay whom fired wide from just 8 yards out, this was a real let off for the Bishops.
The Bishops finished the first half the stronger. In the 39th minute a Wayne Clarke free kick from just inside the Ryton half was masterfully side headed by Salvin to Gredziak whose close range header was brilliantly pushed over the bar by the keeper’s left hand. Blackett took the resultant right wing corner and the keeper was on hand again to save Salvin’s downward header.
Half Time Score – Bishop Auckland 0 Ryton 0
With the second half nine minutes old the Bishops survived a penalty scare. Heavy Ryton pressure forced the Bishops back and they had to thank Steven Turnbull for cutting out the danger though his clearance had height and not length in this swirling wind. The ball eventually dropping to Lawson whom was on the penalty spot though he allowed the ball to bounce which then hit his hand and the referee waved play on though one will see many penalties given in similar circumstances.
The nerves settled when the Bishops scored twice in a three minute spell with two well worked stunning goals. The first came in the 66th minute, the advancing Blackett ghosted into space on the left and his cross was flicked on by Salvin to the right for the advancing Turnbull whom clinically drove home across the face of the goal from 20 yards out. This is the youngster’s second goal in just eight appearances.
66mins:
Turnbull volleys home from just outside the area
Salvin was again involved in splitting the visiting defence with another pass of sheer quality. This time he headed on a Amar Purewal cross into the path of the unmarked advancing Emson and he made no mistake coolly slotting home his 18th goal of the season for the Bishops.
69mins: Emson makes it 2-0, slotting under the ‘keeper
However, the Bishops couldn’t relax as Ryton continually
probed to get back into the game. Lawson nearly cleared a
Jeffries made a vital block to cut out a close range drive
from substitute Stephen Burns in the 87th minute. Burns himself took
the resultant corner which
The Bishop performance never reached the heights of the recent stunning wins over Newcastle Benfield and Spennymoor Town, though never the less a measured performance that showed patience and composure with two well worked goals and the dominant Jeffries on hand to cut out any danger.
This is the first time the Bishops have beaten Ryton in a Northern League encounter. The Bishops this season have accumulated 46 points with ten games left to play, which is the most points the club have accumulated in a season since their return to the Northern League and this clearly signifies progress made which is evident for all to see and great credit to the players and the shrewd management team of Colin Myers and Steven West.
Today’s win was the fourth league game in a row. One has to go back a decade to the 2000/01 Northern Premier League campaign when such a feat was equalled, when the club won 6 league games on the trot in the March and April and during a spell between late October and early January the club won 7 league games on the trot. This maybe something for the current Bishops team to aim at equalling if not surpassing !
Full Time Score – Bishop Auckland 2 Ryton 0
Steven Turnbull 66 mins
Adam Emson 69 mins