Well, after a couple of postponements due to bad weather & the abandonment a couple of weeks ago, we finally managed to get this fixture played today & thankfully everyone came out unscathed.......only just though !
One change the starting line, with Carl out injured - Elliott came in to replace him. From the off, I got the impression that Spennymoor were up for trying to make this as difficult a match as possible & to their credit they certainly did just that. Spennymorr fought for everything and made thing tough but we looked a lot more comfortable in possession and always looked dangerous going forward. The first goal came on 6 mins after some great work down the left flank, the ball was part cleared from the box but Flynn took this opportunity to have a crack first time from outside the box and the keeper couldn't do anything to keep it out 1-0. We pressed for a 2nd goal but against the run of play, Spennymoor equalised. On 15 mins a long ball seemed to be on its way to Alex but a mis-judged run unfortunaely caught him in two minds & their striker broke clear to score -quite unfortunate & just one of those things - chin up Alex. Not long before normal service was resumed though - Niall who had looked really lively, put us 2-1 up when finishing from close range after an assist from Matt Coates. Niall then turned provider on 23 mins when he set up James who finished well. James scored his 2nd & 3rd of the half inside a 5 min spell. His grit and determination saw him grab his 2nd & our 4th goal..4-1 beffore the best move of the macth saw his complete his hat-trick. I'd just been having a quick touch-line chat to Matt Coates to advise him to put out wide left to create space for himself, when from defending a corner, we passed the ball out from the back and found Matt in acres of space, his great run saw him square it for Jame & bang 5-1 - great play.
We lost our shape a little in the 2nd half. Spennymorr battled well and tried to pump forward the long ball which caused us a couple of problems as we were trying to push forward, leaving us a little short at the back. Alex made some good stops but couldn't do anything about Spenny's 2nd goal which was a strong shot from the edge of the area. This made it 5-2 7 although the final result was never really in danger, we struggled a little to get into any sort of flow. We did restore the 4 goal cushion when a good mazy run from Elliott was ended with him being chopped down in the box - penalty. James stepped up and slotted it home brilliantly tight into the bottom left corner 6-2.
That's the way the score stayed, a couple of more opportunities went by - Aaron put a left footed effort wide of the post and Mete somehow manged to head over the bar when unmarked 1 yd out but overall, a good win, 3 more pts & still unbeaten with one match to go. I mentioned at the beginning that everyone managed to come out of this unscathed but only just......well, my heart was in my mouth 2 mins from the end when Aaron went to ground to ground in an attempt to win the ball but the defender turned to kick the ball and kicked Aaron in the face. Thankfully it looked a lot worse than it actually was & we were all astonished to see Aaron immediately get up relatively unmarked !!!
Man of the Match - Niall Al-Bodier - A difficult choice today but Niall gets the nod, he looked sharp, was involved in most of the attacks & grabbed a goal. Well Done.
Final Match of the Div 1 season next week at home against Hebburn Town Gold - to remain unbeaten would be a fantastic acheivement - HaWay Lads
