North Shields ran out worthy winners in a closely contested affair. North Shields ran out 1-0 winners against Newton Aycliffe at the Beaumont Landscapes stadium. North Shields were forced into a change to the squad with captain Adam Forster dropping to the bench and being replaced by Callum Smith.
North Shields started the better of the two sides, with McDonald sending in an early cross to find Kyle Patton who manages to beat him man and force a save from Pickford. Aycliffe found their way into the game with Ethan Wood bringing a fine save from Greg Purvis. The first half was full of end to end football with both sides having a lot of the ball along with fighting against the wind. Both sides had plenty of chances but neither side went ahead at half time.
Kev Carr replaced Pennal at half time. Aycliffe put together a good team move ten minutes in, but when the ball reached Jarvie, his effort didn’t trouble Purvis. North Shields made their first change as Adam Forster cam on and replaced Scott McCarthy on 63 minutes. Newton Aycliffe maintained their bright start to the second half as they kept pressing and Shields cleared the ball off the line on two occasions. North Shields then brought on Connor Campbell replacing Callum Smith on the 75th minute.
North Shields looked dangerous on the counter-attack, Pickford having to make a good save from Ryan Carr parrying his shot away for a corner. Marc Nash made his final change seeing Cam Cunningham being replaced by Paul Van-Zandvliet. Van-Zandvliet was called into action straight away with a cross finding Kyle Patton who is brought down inside the penalty area only for the referee to show a yellow card to the forward for simulation. Moments later Connor Campbell broke through the Aycliffe line and was one-on-one with keeper Adam Pickford, only to see his effort go wide.
It was North Shields who were the strongest going forward and finally broke the deadlock two minutes into injury time. The ball was played into the box and Patton found the corner of the net.
Next match is at home to Penrith on Saturday (Feb 15, 3pm).
MOTM: Gary Ormston
NAFC XI: Adam Pickford, Aaron Brown (C), Marc Costello, Liam Jarvie, Lewis Walton, Ethan Wood, Liam McNamara, Jake Petitjean, Matthew Pennal (Kevin Carr 46′), Andrei-Vasile Ardelean, Nicholas Green (Connor Phelan 89′)
Subs not used: Harrison Webster, Alex Barnes & Ryan Coles
NSFC XI: Greg Purvis; Nick Cassidy, Chris McDonald, Paul New, Wayne Buchanan; Gary Ormston, Cam Cunningham (Paul Van-Zandvliet 83′), Ryan Carr; Kyle Patton, Callum Smith (Connor Campbell 75′), Scott McCarthy (Adam Forster 63′)
Subs not used: Gareth Bainbridge, Rhys Williams
Attendance : 196
Match referee: James Bancroft
