Saturday 26th August
Pitching In Northern Premier League Division One East
Newton Aycliffe 2 v Grimsby Borough 1
On Saturday, Newton Aycliffe played their first home game in the Northern Premier League East Division against Grimsby Borough. With Aycliffe propping up the table after two heavy away defeats, this was their first chance to test themselves against NPL opponents on home soil.
Fortunately, Aycliffe had the best possible start, Liam Adamson got on the end of a cross to outsmart the Grimsby keeper and make it 1-0 early in the first half. But the lead wouldn’t last, as Grimsby’s Jack Barlow fired a long range shot out of the box and straight into the top corner. The rest of the first half would remain an even contest with both sides going end to end.
The second half was equally end to end, and Grimsby had a few good chances, and their winger, Harvey Tomlinson, was a particular menace to the home side. Sam Topliss also challenged Daniel Cameron with a long range effort.
With the games’ end to end nature, however, it was only natural Aycliffe would get a goal scoring chance, and they did, Liam Adamson with a high cross found Kyle Davis’ right foot, and Davis wasted no time in firing a cool low shot, with such precision, the Grimsby keeper didn’t even have time to react to it.
It would be a nervy end to the game for Aycliffe with the post getting hit by Grimsby late on and, after sustained pressure, Grimsby were given a potential lifeline via a penalty. But Daniel Cameron parried it away and saved the resulting corner to bring a massive three points to Newton Aycliffe.
Brian Atkinson’s side will want the SecuriCorp Stadium to be a fortress this season, and with two more away games at Stockton and Grantham, Aycliffe will then have three successive home games, with Stocksbridge Park Steels on the 9th of September, Ashington on the 12th and Ossett United on the 16th respectively.
The Stocksbridge game will be Aycliffe’s first ever fixture in the FA Trophy promotion, having moved them up from the FA Vase.
Photo by Yvonne Wood: Liam Adamson beats the Grimsby Borough keeper to open the scoring. Match Report by Ryan Livingston.
