Recap
A huge crowd of 1,102 assembled at Heritage Park on a soggy Bank Holiday Monday as the eagerly awaited title showdown got underway with the away side starting well and keeping the Bishops’ backline on their feet. Despite the visitors’ good start, it was the Bishops who had a great chance to open the scoring inside 5 minutes when Johnson broke free down the right and forced Mazfari into a good save with his legs.
With surface water visibly gathering in the middle parts of the pitch Shildon were getting to grips with the conditions better than the home side and a deserved lead arrived on 17 minutes when the ball fell to Vincent to strike inside Catterick’s right-hand post. On the half-hour mark, there was a let-off for Bishops when a shot was blasted over the bar following a mazy run through the two-blue defence. Johnson reacted by firing a shot just wide of Mazfari’s post as the wet conditions peaked for the afternoon.
Nine minutes before half time the half went from bad to worse as Catterick brought down Posthill and injured his arm in the process of conceding the penalty. Catterick guessed correctly to palm Posthill’s penalty out but the rebound was blasted home by Reay. Shildon still had time for a goal ruled out due to offside as Bishops just about clung on to their two-goal deficit.
A quick reaction was needed as Bishops kicked toward a packed out and vociferous ‘tin shed’ but no real pressure was enforced on the ‘Railwaymen’s’ goal until the triple substitution of Henderson, Lay and Risbrough with 20 minutes remaining. Henderson gave Bishops some much-needed momentum when he pounced on a deep cross by Burlace, which a defender misjudged, to head the ball across Mazfari. Bishops’ tails were immediately up and just 3 minutes later Henderson thought he had a dramatic equaliser but another header this time crashed against the face of the bar with defenders and keeper watching on.
On 83 minutes Johnson received the ball from Bartliff and as he was falling off balance got a low shot away which struck the foot of the post. This was as close as Bishops were to get to salvaging something from the game as a minute later Posthill finished well after a quick counterattack. This was a result that puts Shildon on top level on points, however, Bishops do have a game in hand as the title run-in looks to go down to the wire.
v 