Bishop Auckland v Redcar Athletic

Recap

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

Redcar Athletic: Norton, Farrington, Garbutt, Rivis, McGuckin, Dale, Conway, Young, Coleman, Holdsworth, Walker

Goals at the end of each half rescued a point for the Bishops in an entertaining game where the visitors provided testing opposition.

After just four minutes Louis Johnson wriggled through a few challenges and had the game’s first effort on goal shooting over the bar.  A minute later the visitors responded with the game’s opening goal when a break down the Bishops right and cross into the box was turned in by Holdsworth.  Whitfield almost restored parity immediately when the ball found him at the far post and his shot bounced off the outside of the post.

There were plenty of early incidents and Redcar almost doubled their lead on 15 minutes when McGoldrick saw a deflected effort come off the underside of the bar before clearing from the goal line.  It was then Johnson’s turn to fire against the frame of the Redcar goal with a low shot after creating space for himself.

Bishops began to assert some pressure as the half wore on and Weirs found himself one on one with Norton but his shot was deflected off the keepers’ arm and out for a corner.  A strong penalty shout for handball from Garbutt was given as a free kick which Gott curled into the side netting, but right on the half-time whistle, Elgie drew Bishops level when he stooped to head into an empty net after a left-wing corner wasn’t fully cleared by a Redcar defender.

Marcus Giles replaced the injured Weirs at half time but it was the away side who again edged ahead in the early stages as Walker took advantage of a lapse in the Bishop defence and casually rounded Liversedge to walk the ball in.  Giles almost equalised on 69 minutes but lashed his shot a yard past the post with a clear sight on goal.

Bishop’s approach play was starting to stretch Redcar, with Burlace finding plenty of room down the right.  Johnson was denied a goal when he was flagged offside as he pounced on a Norton save, and then with 7 minutes left, sub Milburn volleyed over from a Burlace cross.

Just as it appeared it would be a frustrating night for the dominant Bishops a loose ball broke for Johnson to stretch out a foot and poke the ball past Norton, the forward running to celebrate with the home fans behind the goal.