Bishop Auckland v Consett

Recap

The two blues bounced back from defeat last time out against Grimsby Borough to record a deserved but hard-fought win on Boxing Day against visitors Consett.

Jack Norton returned in goal to replace the injured Catterick and had very little to do in the opening 45 minutes as Bishops’ edged ahead on the quarter-hour mark when a Haase ball into the box following a corner deflected into the path of Fielding for a simple tap in.

The ‘Steelmen’ had decent amounts of possession but it was Bishop who looked the more threatening going forward, Johnson finding room late in the half to fire in a shot which was deflected into the arms of Moss in the away goal.

Norton was worked for the first time in the game in the opening stages of the second half, pushing a free kick onto the post.  However, minutes later Dane Burlace was released and the full-back ran toward goal unchallenged before finding Johnson with a delicate clipped pass for the striker to nod home.

Just past the hour mark Consett halved the deficit when a ball in from the right was diverted into his own net by Brown.  Bishops’ then had to see out a brief period of Consett pressure with Norton clawing away a header from a corner.

On 78 minutes Johnson produced a moment of class to win the game from a clipped ball forward by Fielding.  A quick look up with a defender in close proximity then a delicate lob over the stranded Moss brought the home fans to their feet.

Johnson almost completed his hat trick as he nipped in ahead of Moss to prod the ball goalwards from a tight angle but a covering defender just managed to clear the ball from near the goal line.

Match report by Gavin Hadden