Whitley Bay v Bishop Auckland

Recap

Whitley Bay: Bond, Cartwright, Day, Turnbull, Almond, Richardson, Suddick, H Neary, Davison, Holmes

Bishop Auckland: Catterick, Burlace, Risbrough, Lay, Errington, May, Mohammed, Cooke, Howard, Henderson, Giles

A strong second-half showing from Bishops edged out Whitley Bay to take us to the top of the league for the first time this season with Shildon dropping points at home to Redcar Athletic.

In the early exchanges Bishops had the better moments when a thunderous Giles effort was clawed out one-handed by the Bay goalkeeper and Mohammed had a great chance to open the scoring when he followed up on a loose ball but from a very tight angle and found the foot of the post.

The home side did have a couple of sighters at Catterick’s goal before a good move resulted in full back Cartwright being released to slot the ball under Catterick on 25 minutes.  Suddick then missed the ball completely from a dangerous ball into the Bishops’ box as Bay sensed an opportunity to go further in front.

Bond was not tested in the lead-up to halftime as Bishops struggled to find much fluency and an improved second half was needed.  This is exactly what they got, and although the opening quarter of the half did not bring many chances Bishops were beginning to control the play.

On 65 minutes Cooke helped the ball onto Henderson via a Mohammed throw-in, the striker took a touch and smashed a shot in off the underside of the bar to bring the scores level.  The away following behind the goal sensed another goal and only had to wait nine minutes when Howard was brought down just inside the box and Mohammed squeezed the spot kick in off the post.

A number of hopeful long balls from Bay were well repelled by the resolute Bishops defence and at the other end May had a header from a corner which clipped the top of Bond’s bar.  The referee brought proceedings to an end with players and fans struggling to see clearly in the poor lighting offered by the floodlights!

Match report by Gavin Hadden.