Aycliffe U23’s 6 v Redcar Athletic 2
With a strong 16 man squad to choose from, Aycliffe were full of confidence, in only their second home fixture of the season
Jack Mortimer opened the scoring after three minutes and, as Aycliffe continued to press very high, they won the ball and a lovely 4 pass move set Jack away and his cross was tapped in at the back post by Noah Ellis. Jack grabbed his second from a direct free kick.
The lads then allowed Redcar to come into the game and, from a corner, a Redcar player had a free header and nodded home. Then came the move of the game, playing out from the back Aycliffe completed fifteen passes from the back into the attacking third, a through ball by Noah found Sam who squared for Jack to tap home for his hat-trick.
Aycliffe dominated the rest of the half and after an injury, young 17 year old Jude Cowen came on for his home debut. Second half, the game started nip and tuck with Aycliffe struggling to get out of second gear.
Another slack corner allowed Redcar back into the game when we didn’t learn from the first half and gave them a free header 4-2.
A couple of substitutions saw Ky Thain and Mitchell Simons come on to shore things up. Then, from a corner, Cameron Nicholson volleyed home to increase our league, giving an opportunity for the final two subs to get valuable game time. With ninety seconds to go, Jack was sent clean though and was brought down in the box. Sam Thompson stepped up to score the penalty and sealed an impressive win.