BEDLINGTON TERRIERS 3 Billingham Town 2
Our match sponsors today were PLUMBASE (MORPETH) Plumbers Merchants Thanks for their generous support.
From the kick off Kyle Oliver put in a great long range effort which their keeper had to tip over the bar. Not to be outdone within 2 minutes Lee Scott put the Terriers ahead with a great finish shooting low into the corner of the net from a loose ball in the box. Billingham came back and their top scorer Craig Hutchinson had a good shot well saved by Dave Stewart in the Terriers goal, it was an excellent end to end game and Billingham came close to equalising when Connor headed just over the bar. After 24 minutes it was 2 – 0 , to Terriers when Lee Scott again was on hand to pick up a poor clearance by the visiting keeper Proctor and curl a great finish into the right hand corner of the net.
Town came back and a double save from Dave Stewart when he pushed a shot away and followed up by diving at the following up forward to smother the effort, it was a good game and Norris nearly made it 3 when he had a good effort saved by their keeper. With Andrew Hall and Calvin McMahon working hard in midfield the Terriers led 2 – 0 at the break.
A much more determined Billingham Town came out in the second half and put pressure on the Terriers goal even though Dave Stewart in the Terriers goal was not overworked because of a fine performance by the back four especially Chris Armstrong and Paul Wardle who were putting themselves in where it mattered and winning most tackles. In the 54th minute a rare attack by the Terriers resulted in a cross by Sam Norris just headed over the bar by Kyle Oliver, Town retaliated with a move which was well defended by Peter Henderson who put in a tackle , was knocked for a corner which was well held by DaveStewart. Shortly after Luke Hogan of Town was booked for a bad tackle on Jon Wightman. Billingham Town kept pressing and 2 corners in succession were well defended and then Chris Armstrong put in a great tackle on Craig Hutchinson to keep the score at 2 – 0. On 71minutes Lee Scott put an excellent pass through to Sam Norris who seemed to carry it wide, then beat his marker easily and shot past the keeper for a very well taken goal, 3 – 0 to the Terriers. After 74 minutes Elliott Beddow became the 2nd booking for Town when he fouled Peter Henderson who was unable to carry on and was replaced by Tyler Scarth.
On 71minutes top scorer Craig Hutchinson made it 3 – 1 with a well taken goal, then 4 minutes later it was 3 -2, when Craig Hutchinson was fouled and the same player scored from the spot. Now it was great defending by the Terriers that saw them through to the end for a good win against one of the top teams in the league.
A good advert for Northern League football, and a difficulty for to pick a MoM, because we had good performances from Lee Scott who scored 2 and made the third, a very good back four so I have chosen 2 players who I thought just edged it in Andrew Hall and Chris Armstrong
Once again thanks to our match sponsors PLUMBASE (MORPETH) We hope you enjoyed the game.
TEAM Stewart, Locke, Armstrong, Wardle, Henderson, Wightman, McMahon, Hall, Oliver, Scott, Norris, sub after 73 mins Scarth for Henderson
Subs not used Wells (gk), Clark, Williamson, Dobson.