After getting our first win of the season last weekend in the cup we wanted to get our first in the league. We didn't get off to the best start when a free kick was awarded to Forest Hall within the first 10 minutes, a free kick which didn't go unpunished as Andrew McBride beat both the wall and the keeper to open the scoring. From that point on we began to get the ball down, play our way and through that chances started to follow. Our first came when Smith picked up the ball from deep and was brough down inside the area, a stone wall penalty waved away by the referee. Bad luck struck a second time 10 minutes later when Mark Davies' flick on was pounced upon by Daniel Wilson only to see his strike chalked off for an apparent offside call. The linesman claiming Wilson was offisde before then deciding it was in fact Davies who was the offender, both inaccurate to say the least. It's fair to say we lacked a cutting edge throughout the first half, creating half chances but not making the most of them against a Forest Hall side who tried to play football themselves. The visitors did pick up two yellow cards during the first 45 too, which would come back to bite them by the time the final whistle went.
After regrouping at half time we came out quickly for the second half, and it wasn't long before we were back on level terms. The ball found it's way to Wilson who subtly set up Nolan to bend the ball into the keepers near post, continuing his fine form of late in front of goal. The equaliser gave us the momentum we needed to go on and grab a second to put us into the lead, which should have came sooner than it did. Nolan found himself in front of goal again with plenty time, only to misplace his finish wide of the post. Another chance resulted in our second, this time thanks to a Daniel Watson cross. The young forward had the beating of his man before finding Nolan again, this time inside the area to slot cooly past the keeper. Once we found ourselves in front we were comfortable, controlling the game with confidence and beginning to enjoy ourselves. A third goal gave us a bit of breathing space thanks to a superb Daniel Wilson header, Watson again the provider derlivering a pin point cross from the left wing. It all went a bit sour for Forest Hall after that as their striker was shown a straight red card after seemingly saying something inappropriate to the referee. They then went down to 9 after the centre half, who was booked in the first half, lost his cool to lash out at Watson resulting in him receiving his second yellow of the game followed by a red. The final 10 minutes were very comfortable for us, as you'd expect with that sort of numerical advantage. We did however waste a couple more chances to stretch our lead, with a strike from Smith just missing the far corner and Nolan who missed out on his hat trick.
That's 2 wins from 2 home games now, with both being fully deserved. We want to keep this run going, and we'll work hard each week to ensure we do. A big week next week, as we play out a local derby against Harton and Westoe in the Durham Trophy. Details will follow for the fixture, as we hope to gather a few spectators for the clash!
