Recap
A chilly Friday evening in Newcastle was the setting for a disappointing night as the hosts’ desire and determination ensured their ambitions of staying in the league were a strong possibility.
The game was stopped after seconds for a nasty-looking clash between two home players, but thankfully, both were able to continue, and after ten minutes, Slaughter saw his effort from distance crash against Norton’s post, with the keeper then smothering the follow-up effort. The ‘Stan’ had two further efforts on Bishops goal with Norton making another close range block and a shot from an angle just wide before they deservedly opened the scoring on 38 minutes. A free kick was chipped into the box and headed goalward for Hopper to add the finishing touch.
Bishops had not been an attacking threat at all and were punished further just before half time as Marriott bundled in from a corner at the far post. Leon Carling’s response was the introduction of Hackett and Hargrave to give more of an attacking dimension, but the home side never looked like surrendering their lead until Bishops did apply some pressure in the final 20 minutes.
A raft of corners and free kicks were well dealt with by Heaton’s defence even when Halford and Blackford were also thrown on to try and make inroads back into the game, and after the following day’s results Bishops’ still have a little work to do from the remaining four games to mathematically guarantee safety.
Match report by Gavin Hadden
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