Northern League Division 1
11 September, 2010
Ryton 3 :
Bishop Auckland 5
Bishop Auckland – Peter Jeffries / Chris Lawson / Darren Atkinson / Wayne Clarke / John Hutton / Simon Ord / Arran Wearmouth / Stephen Salvin / Steven Turnbull / Wayne Gredziak / Adam Strong
Bishops headed to Crawcrook hoping to erase the memories of a thrashing last October which was a real low-point in the 2009/0 campaign.
A sunny but breezy afternoon and Bishops travelled with a threadbare squad with Grant and Blackett unavailable and Adam Emson still unfit. Fortunately Stephen Salvin was fit to return leaving Richardson, Toman and West on the bench.
Bishops had the advantage of the breeze in the first half. The first 20 minutes was notable only in that it lacked any chances at either end.
That all changed when Arran Wearmouth took on Parker down the left. Wearmouth was heading nowhere when Parker hacked him down just inside the box for a clear penalty. Turnbull sent the ‘keeper the wrong way to make it 1-0 from the spot on 20 minutes.
26 minutes and Ryton were pushing for an equaliser. A deep cross was pushed back into the box and a sliced clearance allowed a chance but Jeffries stretched to pull in what turned out to be a fairly weak cross.
30 minutes and Burrell hit Bishops on the break, but Jeffries pulled off a good flying save to maintain the Two Blues lead.
Three minutes later and Bishops were two up. A ball over the top saw Gredziak beat the offside trap running from close to the half way line before lobbing the advancing ‘keeper expertly from around 30 yards.
Three minutes later on 38 minutes. A cross into the box was headed on by Turnbull to Strong but the ball dropped to Salvin who lashed in a sweet volley from 15 yards. The ‘keeper got a good hand on the ball but it still flew in for 3-0.
A great lead at half time which gave some comfort for another three points.
HT: Ryton 0 : Bishop Auckland 3
Arran Wearmouth
came close to adding to Bishops lead early in the second half beating three men
down the left before unleashing a shot which missed the frame of the goal by
just a few centimetres.
51 minutes on the
clock and Wearmouth lobbed the ball in to Gredziak whose shot was blocked. A follow up shot from Ord
was also blocked and a third shot from Salvin was
also kept out.
Ten minutes later
and Burrell beat Hutton and Wearmouth on the right and sent in a cross shot
which crept in at the far post to make it 3-1.
Alarm bells were
ringing on 68 minutes when after some pinball in the Bishops area McBride
forced the ball home from close range. 3-2.
The thrills
continued as Bishps attacked in the 74th
minute. Turnbull picked the ball up on
the right. Wearmouth provided the decoy
to allow Turnbull to cross unhindered. Salvin flicked
the ball on and Strong slid in at the far post to push the ball over the line
for 4-2.
Any thoughts of a
relaxing run to the final whistle were dashed when a free kick from Ryton was flicked past Jeffries by a Bishops head on 77
minutes to make it 4-3.
However, great
work by Adam Strong on 81 minutes saw the midfielder dispossess the Ryton left back and slot a ball through to Gredziak who
curled in a shot from the edge of the box to make it 5-3.
Gredziak missed a
chance of a hat-trick on 90 minutes when he shot wide with just the ‘keeper to
beat.
Three wins and three defeats from Bishops opening league games, but cups now dominate again with League Cup, FA Vase and Durham Challenge Cup ties before we resume league action in two weeks time.
FT: Ryton 3 : Bishop Auckland 5