Bishop Auckland v 1874 Northwich

Recap

BISHOP AUCKLAND   1   V    4    1874 NORTHWICH FC (By Garry Clarke)

Despite playing the whole of the second half with ten men 1874, in the end, comfortably defeated their Northern League hosts on Sunday.

An open and entertaining game which saw the action switch from end to end threatened, at times, to descend into a scrappy affair with both teams picking up needless bookings for reckless fouls.

1874 enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges with Matthew Beadle flashing a shot across goal and then a Bishops defender heading away a dangerous Matty Ward cross that Stuart Wellstead was about to pounce on and he would probably have scored.

Then Scott Pocklington, the home keeper, cut out a searching Wellstead cross whilst soon after Beadle shot narrowly wide from 20 yards

The home side forced a corner after 16 minutes and Conkie did well to stretch and paw the ball away from just under his crossbar

Three minutes later and 1874 opened the scoring with a really well worked goal. Beadle did well to win and keep the ball in the left corner before finding Tandy in support some ten yards behind him. Tandy took one touch, looked up and delivered a perfect sweet cross into the area evading Pocklington and reaching Wellstead who headed the ball into the net from close range.

After this setback Bishop started to enjoy a good spell as they tried to get back on terms but all of their good work usually finished with the claret-clad 1874 defenders managing to scramble the ball clear to frustrate their hosts.

Both Thompson and Lavery saw their long range shots easily dealt with by Conkie who was definitely not having a quiet afternoon.

Then somewhat against the run of play 1874 increased their lead in the 29th minute as Tandy’s corner evaded everyone in a crowded penalty area and reached Matt Woolley at the far post who gratefully side footed the ball home.

In the 42nd minute 1874 allowed Bishop back into the game when a miss hit pass in their final third fell to Stuart Thompson 30 yards out and he needed no second invitation to strike a thunderous drive into the top corner.

A feisty encounter came to a head just before half-time when referee Mr Dicicco ended Adam Bayley’s impressive debut for 1874  by showing  him a red card after a clash with a Bishop attacker.

Half Time 1-2

1874 came out for the second half and clearly had to change their game plan and this was expertly put into effect by Ian Street and his players. The 18774 supporters probably expected an almost “Custer-like” rearguard action to follow but that was certainly not the case and in the 53rd minute 1874 restored their two-goal advantage. Bishop failed to clear a free kick played into their area and the alert ward dribbled around a couple of defenders before seeing his powerful shot parried by Pocklington but only as far as the alert Beadle following up and he confidently slotted the  ball home.

Inevitably Bishop pushed forward relentlessly searching for a way back into the tie and a strong shot flashed across the goal needing just a touch but nobody managed to get to it and the shortly afterwards Conkie had to be alert again to clutch a clever flicked back header from Butler and the same player curled a shot just wide of the post moments later.

Bishop continued to send crosses into the 1874 area in a frantic finale but the re-jigged 1874  backline held firm, throwing their bodies in the way of goal ward shots and twice clearing off the line. Needless to say Conkie played his part well with his commanding presence and safe handling. He also produced another important save to deny Hotchkiss from scoring  when well placed to do so.

The “Two Blues” had been feeling blue and even more so when they fell further behind after 67 minutes when Beadle scored his second goal calmly shooting home when Wellstead’s cross found him unmarked in the box.

So a hard-working all round team performance, saw 1874 deservedly progress into the third round of the FA Vase to the delight of their legion of supporters who had made the long trek to the North East.

Every player had given his all and this was very much an all round team performance of which all at 1874 can be justly proud of

1874: Conkie; Mitchell; Duckworth; Woolley; Bayley; Chappell; Wellstead; Jones; Beadle; Ward and Tandy. Subs: Gill for Wellstead 82 minutes and  Brandon for Beadle 86minutes;

Scorers: Beadle 2; Wellstead and Woolley

Attendance 407

Referee: Mr Matthew Dicicco