Northern League Division 1
7 September, 2010
Bishop Auckland 1 : Bedlington Terriers 4
Bishop Auckland – Peter Jeffries / Chris Bell / Thomas Blackett / Wayne Clarke / Chris Lawson / Joe Grant / Arran Wearmouth (Adam Strong, 72 mins) / Simon Ord / Wayne Gredziak / Steven Turnbull / Darren Atkinson
After three consecutive cup matches, Bishops returned to Darlington Road for only their fifth League match of the season. The visitors, Bedlington Terriers, were about to play their ninth!
With injuries keeping out key men, Colin Myers made three changes to the side that won comfortably enough at Willington in the FA Vase at the weekend. Darren Atkinson, Joe Grant and Arran Wearmouth came into the starting line-up at the expense of Darren Richardson, Adam Strong and Craig Toman, who were all named on the bench. Club captain Steven Salvin, who made a welcome return to the bench on Saturday, felt a twinge in the warm up, so Bishops went into the game one substitute short.
The match kicked off under floodlights (minus one bulb on three of the four pylons) with some dark ominous looking clouds overhead. There had been a few spots of rain before play began.
Bishops started brightly enough and took the game to the visitors who had lost their last two matches. In only the third minute, a free kick was won in a dangerous position by Wayne Gredziak. Instead of curling the ball into the box, Chris Bell surprised the visiting keeper with a shot at goal which Newton just managed to save with his legs.
Three minutes later, the same keeper’s poor goal kick went straight to Thomas Blackett but he managed to recover in time to watch the defenders’ effort curl wide of the upright. Newton was called into action again four minutes later when Simon Ord unleashed a thirty yard shot which was dipping under the crossbar until the Terriers’ keeper tipped the ball over.
Bedlington caused a scare at the other end when they finally managed to overcome Bishops’ offside tactic. As the linesman’s flag stayed down, Chapman raced down the right wing before crossing to the far post to find the other winger Stewart. Despite being unmarked and unchallenged, he headed the ball across goal and wide of the right-hand post.
Within a minute
Bishops missed their fourth good chance to take the lead. A long ball over the
top for Gredziak to chase was well controlled, but his shot curled past the far
post.
Five minutes later, Bishops put together a good passing move down the right wing which involved Bell, Arran Wearmouth, Gredziak and Ord, but the latter’s shot was deflected out for a corner.
Bishops failure to take their chances was to cost them dear on the half hour. A throw-in to the Terriers on the left was nudged on by Benjamin to the unmarked Chapman. The winger took the ball around Peter Jeffries and slid it into the empty net to give the visitors an undeserved lead.
But Bishops hit back searching for the equaliser. Within a couple of minutes, Wearmouth did well to keep the ball in on the right-hand touchline before finding Gredziak in the box. The centre forward rolled the ball into the path of Darren Atkinson, whose shot was tipped around the post for a corner from which a header was narrowly glanced wide.
Bedlington came more and more into the game and four minutes later, Peter Jeffries saved well after Stewart again found Chapman as play switched quickly from one side of the pitch to the other.
After missing a string of chances, Bishops finally got the ball in the net after 39 minutes. Steven Turnbull won the ball in the middle of the park and passed it out to Wearmouth on the right. The young winger played an excellent low cross into the box which was neatly clipped into the net by Atkinson to give the Two Blues a well deserved equaliser.
Another chance to take the lead came within four minutes. Turnbull was fouled just outside the area and Simon Ord stepped up to take the kick. Although the midfielder certainly had his shooting boots on tonight, he passed the ball to Bell who peeled off the edge of the wall. Bell’s shot was saved at point blank range by the keeper. It was a well executed free kick straight from the training ground, and it deserved to give the home side the lead.
But it was not to be. Two minutes before the break, a long punt upfield found Chapman who raced towards goal. His fierce shot flew over Jeffries and dipped into the roof of the net and Bedlington were ahead once again.
After all the controversy of recent matches, this game had to have at least one talking point, and it came just before half-time. As Bishops went in search of a second equaliser, Atkinson was taken out by a defender on the six-yard line just as the referee blew for a head injury to a player from each side. Had advantage been played, surely a penalty would have been the result? Instead, after treatment was administered, a fiercely contested drop ball in the box came to nothing.
HT: Bishop Auckland 1, Bedlington Terriers 2
At half-time the news came through from Switzerland that Wayne Rooney had scored, which was met with the inevitable comment from a Bishops supporter, “Hope Coleen doesn’t get to hear about it”!
The heavens opened as the second half began and it rained for nearly half-an-hour. As most spectators headed for shelter as the weather deteriorated, things got worse for the home side. After having a goal disallowed for offside, Terriers extended their lead when Benjamin slotted home after 62 minutes.
Colin Myers changed tactics in a bid to get the Two Blues back into the game. Joe Grant was pushed further forward to give support to Gredziak, who, until this point, had pretty much been the lone striker chasing long balls over the top. The plan almost worked, but after Gredziak’s shot was saved, Grant’s chip over the keeper came back off the foot of the right hand post, and that was the closest Bishops came to scoring.
After 76 minutes, Benjamin scored the visitors fourth from the penalty spot after Jeffries was adjudged to have brought down a forward as he ran away from goal.
Gredziak missed a final chance to get on the scoresheet with a consolation in the 89th minute when he headed wide from a Bell cross.
All in all, it
was a sense of relief when the final whistle blew. Bishops started very well
and will rue their missed chances as they had much the better of the first half
hour. Bedlington seemed to create fewer chances, but
their finishing was far more effective, and we must at least acknowledge that.
Hopefully, it will be a return to winning ways on Saturday with a trip to Ryton.
FT: Bishop Auckland 1, Bedlington Terriers 4