Saturday 9th September
Isuzu FA Trophy First Round Qualifying
Newton Aycliffe 1
v Stocksbridge Park Steels 3
Newton Aycliffe played their first ever FA Trophy game on Saturday against fellow NPL East side Stocksbridge Park Steels Steels, a team famous for producing the likes of Jamie Vardy and Scott Hogan, although they hadn’t won a game in this competition since 2016.
However, the Steels would be the first to find the net, courtesy of Jack Watson, Daniel Cameron initially with a brilliant save, but Steel’s Watson hit a rocket of a rebound into the net. The game was played in blistering heat for the first half, and neither side had too many concrete chances barring the first goal. Jake Petitjean, probably being Aycliffe’s brightest spark, with two powerful shots that went straight into the gloves of Stocksbridge’s number one.
The second half had Aycliffe make it 1-1 at the 55th minute. After Stocksbridge’s keeper parried, Mckenzie Diccio would find the ball in a scrappy box, to make it a first goal for Newton Aycliffe for the former Northallerton man. Although parity didn’t last long, Luke Rawson, for Stocksbridge, would get on the end of a corner, and head home to make it 2-1 from close range.
Aycliffe would have some skillful spells late in the game, but the away sides defence was resolute, and challenges against the Stocksbridge keeper were sparse. Daniel Cameron would keep on making saves for Aycliffe, arguably keeping the score down by a decent amount. It was end to end towards the games final minutes, but the final goal came the way of the away side, Luke Rawson would get his brace, and finish the game a 3-1 defeat for the home side.
Aycliffe now have three home games in a row, with Ashington, Ossett United and Sheffield FC all paying a visit to the SecuriCorp Stadium before an away trip to Brighouse at the end of the month.
Fixtures:
Tuesday 12 September – Ashington (h)
Saturday 16 September – Ossett United (h)
Tuesday 26 September – Sheffield (h)
Saturday 30 September – Brighouse Town (a)
Match report by Ryan Livingston.
Photo by Yvonne Wood: Aycliffe’s Jacob Mallinson takes on the Stocksbridge defence.