Recap
Club captain Craig Gott made his long-awaited return to the starting lineup with Liam Cooke also coming into the team in a forward role in place of the absent Marcus Giles.
On a heavy pitch Bishops’ looked the most likely side to open the scoring with Thexton finding the net after just 11 minutes but an offside flag had been raised. Northallerton threatened several times from long distance as they battled against the two blues’ superior possession and also had half an opportunity to beat Catterick as the keeper was almost caught out of position by Robertson.
As the first half drew to a conclusion a combination of post, defender and goalkeeper denied Bishops’, the ball eventually dropping to safety in the arms of Fairless.
A strong start to the second period saw Johnson flash a header wide before he got another opportunity on 51 minutes as the ball was deftly played to the striker by Thexton to confidently stroke home under Fairless. Just six minutes later Bishops had a two-goal lead when Hackett was clearly brought down in the box and Gott calmly placed the spot kick beyond Fairless.
On 72 minutes more good work from Bishops’ was rewarded when an inviting Burlace free kick saw Bartliff force home from close range after timing his run expertly. A rare home attack saw Catterick smother a shot from distance before his clean sheet disappeared in injury time after a defensive mix-up exposed the keeper and Conway tapped into an unguarded net.
This was another accomplished display on the road which leads Bishops’ nicely into the final ‘Auckland derby’ of the season next weekend.
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