Bishop Auckland v Northallerton Town

Recap

Bishop Auckland: Liversedge, Burlace, Errington, McGoldrick, Risbrough, Gott, Daley, Weirs, Fairley, Giles, Whitfield

Northallerton: Taylor, Marron, Jackson, Ryder, Crust, Stephenson, Stapley, Parker, Waters, Howard, Spalding

Bishops were frustrated as ten-man Northallerton battled for a point, however, this was still enough to take the two blues to the top of the table.  The struggling visitors’ first-half performance belied their lowly position in the table as Bishops struggled for any sort of fluency in the opening 30 minutes.  Joesph Spalding put ‘Town’ ahead after 12 minutes when he unleashed a powerful strike which flew past the diving Liversedge.

There was a let-off when a visiting attacker sliced his shot into the side netting as he looked well-placed to fire across Liversedge, and this appeared to spark the home side into life as halftime approached.  Fairley had a strong penalty appeal waved away before Whitfield was brought down inside the box, halting his weaving run.  Gott found himself in familiar territory and powerfully drove the spot kick to the keeper’s right to level the scores.

The second half was played increasingly in Northallerton territory but they did come close to re-taking the lead when a speculative effort came back off the bar with Liversedge stranded.  A spate of substitutions around the hour mark seemed to provide Bishops with more attacking thrust as Milburn, Giles and Gott all had efforts that brought saves out of Taylor who was becoming very busy in the ‘Allerton’ goal.

A pair of free kicks on the edge of the box resulted in a 2^nd yellow card for handball as Howard was given his marching orders with 13 minutes remaining on the clock and this invited more intense pressure on the away sides defence in the closing stages.  Further saves from the inspired Taylor meant it was not going to be Bishop’s night as a run of six league wins on the bounce came to an end.

Programme: Bishop v Northallerton 20.09.22

Team Sheet: BAFC v Northallerton Town 20-09-22