Northern League Division 1

1 May, 2010

 

Bishop Auckland 2 : West Allotment Celtic 4

 

Bishop Auckland Ryan Graham / Steven Turnbull / Tom Blackett / Wayne Clarke / Steven West / Simon Ord / Adam Strong / Stephen Salvin / Wayne Gradziak / Darren Richardson / Adam Emson

 

Subs not used Harry Drummond / Peter Jeffries / Jake Richardson / Anthony Phillipson / Jordan Wymer

 

Bishops final game of the season with Steven West, Stephen Salvin and Adam Emson returning to the side to replace Harry Drummond and the injured Joe Grant and Arjun Purewal.

 

The match was played on a breezy cool day, with the pitch very hard.

 

Bishops were behind on two minutes when a low cross from the right flew through to the unmarked Christopher Jewels to tap in.

 

Almost level on five minutes when Tom Blackett’s low free kick found Gredziak who moved the ball to Darren Richardson but the midfielder’s shot was deflected wide for a corner.

 

With 14 minutes on the clock another great chance for the home side as Salvin won the ball and bustled through before pushing it down to Emson.  Emson’s cross from the left was perfect for Strong but his header was blocked.

 

23 minutes and the clock and Celtic doubled their lead after an attacker cut across Steven West to draw contact before going to ground.  A penalty, and West received the first of a ridiculous eight yellow cards awarded during the game.  Watson slotted home from the spot.

 

Worse was to come on 33 minutes when another ball into the Bishops box found the defence all at sea and an unmarked Paul King forced the ball in under the unprotected Ryan Graham.

 

Two minutes later and another scare as a deep corner was headed goalwards but Steven Turnbull was on the post and headed the ball clear.

 

Bishops did pull a goal back on 43 minutes.  Adam Emson’s cross was blocked but the ball rebounded to Salvin who chested it to Wayne Gredziak who fired in a superb dipping shot to beat Bannon in the Celtic goal from just over 20 yards.

 

Half Time Score Bishop Auckland 1 West Allotment Celtic 3

 

What had been a quite calm came exploded into life on 50 minutes when after a foul by the visitors Adam Emson was punched in the kidneys by Simon Wilson.  Wilson received only a yellow card, so presumably his boxing skills were not noted by the officials.

 

An elbow in Darren Richardson’s face soon after did little to calm things down, and the game continued in extremely tetchy fashion from then on.

 

Bishops dominated possession and territory throughout the second half, but were unable to pull back the deficit.

 

Adam Strong had a decent shout for a penalty on 64 minutes when he was bundled over close to the goal line, but the appeals were denied.

 

Paul King added a fourth from virtually the visitors only attack of the second half as he sidefooted home at the far post with again Bishops defence out of position.

 

Bishops kept going though and Steven West pulled a goal back on 88 minutes when he forced the ball in from a scramble after a right wing corner.

 

Wayne Gredziak was unlucky not to add a third on 90 minutes when Emson crossed hard and Brannon fumbled the shot.  Gredziak’s shot from close range was blocked by a defender on the line and spun out for a corner.

 

Darren Richardson fired another shot wide in injury time before the referee signalled an end to the game and the season.

 

Full Time Score Bishop Auckland 2 West Allotment Celtic 4

 

 

 

Fixtures and Results