Newton Aycliffe Youth Seniors 1 v Middlestone Moor 2
Quarter Final of the Durham County Minor County Cup for the Seniors.
Aycliffe started the game on fire, creating four or five clear chances but every shot seemed to find their keeper. This continued for the next 25 minutes and it looked like only a matter of time before we took the lead. The next 20 minutes, to be fair to Middlestone, they were the team on top and some good saves from Adam Scott kept the game level. Then came the first big decision of the match, two players running alongside each other the attacker runs into the defender, yellow card for Aycliffe.
The best move of the half saw Steven Dawson feed Jack Mortimer, who burst through 1v1 but the keeper somehow got his toe on to the ball, deflecting it onto the post to keep it 0-0 at half time. Two subs at half time and a couple struggling with how physical the first half had been, but the second half was a repeat of the first 15 minutes where Aycliffe were the better team, creating chances but not converting them. A challenge on full back Richard Murray saw him have to come off injured which meant Aycliffe had to change things with no full backs on the bench.
Middlestone then created chances and bossed the game for the next 15 minutes, again Adam and his defence kept the score level 0-0 with eight minutes to go, sub Ryan Peart was fed on the left side of their defence and he finished to give us the lead. Aycliffe created the next chance, shooting wide from 5 yards out. Then the early booking came back to bite the team. A through ball saw Cameron Nicholson run, again, side by side with the striker, and the striker went down, the Ref showed Cameron a second yellow and was sent off. Aycliffe down to 10 men with five minutes to hold out. From a corner Aycliffe won the header but the ball bounced up off the post, then hit the keeper in the back, to go in for their equaliser. With the clock ticking round to 90+2, the same attacker for Middlestone gets into the box, and with minimum contact goes down and a penalty is awarded. Adam got his hand to it, but it squeezed in the corner to win the tie. Mom Adam Scott.
Gateshead Rutherford Ladies Reserves 4
v Newton Aycliffe Youth Women 4
First game back since the beginning of December and Aycliffe didn’t get the result they wanted. First half they started slow, against the run of play we managed to get the first goal, a great solo run from Alex and a calm finish. Aycliffe then conceded four goals, a mixture of mistakes, lack of urgency and some good finishing saw Rutherford up 4-1 at the break. Again, a slow start to the second half but the women were starting to get back into the game. Then the breakthrough, Lauren Cockerill playing a perfectly weighted ball for Alex who squeezed the ball in at the near post. Then Katie got on the score sheet, Lauren popped up with another assist playing the ball through the Rutherford defence. Katie timed her run and slotted the ball past the keeper to make it 3-4. With time running out, Aycliffe pushed Lottie up front from centre back and she gets the equaliser, Morgan this time with the assist, Lottie with the well timed run and a calm finish. No time, unfortunately, to go for the winner with the referee bringing the game to a close. A fair result as the women weren’t at the races in the first half, but this team showed their resilience to battle back into the game. POTM: Annabelle, a proper Captain performance.
Team Sponsor: McDonald’s Newton Aycliffe. Captain Sponsor: Swim Buddies. Away Kit Sponsor: AngloTech Group.