Bishop Auckland v Middlesbrough Under 23

Recap

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Saturday 15th July 2017

Bishop Auckland 3-0 Middlesbrough U 23’s

Team: Robinson, Lovegreen (Madden), Hart, Martindale, Riding, Jury, Goundry, Trotter, Moffat, Thompson (Ward), Fairley (Dalton)

Man of the Match: James Fairley

Bishop played their first home pre-season friendly against the under 23’s side of Championship club Middlesbrough.

The first real action came after 4 minutes when James Fairley whipped a free kick in to the Middlesbrough penalty box and Matty Lovegreen rose the highest and powered a header past Hemming in the Boro goal.

Boro had the chance to respond on 8 minutes but Boro number 8 Guedioura drew a free kick just wide of the Bishop right hand post.

Callum Cooke the Boro number 9 had a shot blocked in the 11th minute but it was an even greater chance which he missed a minute later, he was clean through on the Bishop goal when he tried to chip Robinson but the Bishop keeper stood tall and collected the ball from what seemed to be a certain Boro equaliser.

On 20 minutes the game sparked in to life after a challenge on the Boro number 8 prompted a response from him towards a Bishop player Guedioura received a Yellow card for his troubles. John Jury also picked up a booking for retaliation towards Guedioura.

Confusion between Hemming and a Boro defender in the 24th minute resulted in an indirect free kick to Bishop after Hemming picked up a back pass. Moffatt tapped the resulting free kick to Fairley who drove the ball high in to the Boro net and Bishop were now 2-0 to the good.

32 minutes in to the game James Fairley got his second goal of the game hitting a speculative 35 yard free kick past Hemming who remained rooted to the spot.

HT – Bishop Auckland 3 – 0 Middlesbrough U 23’s

Bishop’s Lovegreen was withdrawn at half time and swapped with Daniel Madden, Boro made a raft of changes also with last years non-league signings Wing and Armstrong entering the fray.

The second half started a quiet affair compared to the first half, Bishop keeper Robinson produced a good save at full length to deny Boro in the 71st minute the rebound was cleared by the Bishop defence. 

Debutant Louis Dalton came on for James Fairley on 73 and very nearly scored with his first touch in a Bishop shirt.

The game remained 3-0 and Bishop ran out worthy winners against Graeme Lee’s side.

That’s 3 games in with 3 wins, people say never take much notice of pre-season results but winning also breeds confidence.

Next up for Bishop is the visit of Darlington to Heritage Park next Friday night.

FT – Bishop Auckland 3 – 0 Middlesbrough U 23’s