Shields push on against a determined Northallerton side. A game of many chances for The Robins was met by gritty defending from the hosts under new management leaving the Robins frustrated being only 1-0 victors.
The Robins started brightly in the game with Ben Fairless having to be alert in the early moments with a great save down low to his right to deny Stephen Forster, and with 12 minutes gone -Shields did have the ball in the back of the net but Bradley Chisholm was adjudged to have been offside. The Robins will feel wrongly judged with Bradley Hird being the man in red offside not his counterpart.
Northallerton made an early change due to injury and got more of a foot on the game and it became a bit more end-to-end.
Shields ‘keeper Finn Hodgson saw a pass go straight towards debutant Sam Spenceley however he managed to recover in time to deny Spenceley a goal on debut.
The game saw North Shields having a range of attacking chances with their keeper making good stops. Northallerton looked sheepish up front with Hodgson only making one save.
Town were still pushing with Shields defending well to limit chances from Spenceley and Dom Moan and the sides would go in level.
HT – Northallerton Town 0 – 0 North Shields
North Shields came out brightly in the second period, Hird has a golden opportunity after great buildup play from Oliver and Chisholm left the forward with only the keeper to beat, with Ben Fairless making another great stop.
Tom Potter would see a yellow card and a sin-bin for the protestations to the match officials with another decision not falling the way of the visitors.
Sam Spenceley was again at the heart of things whose curled effort towards the bottom right which was just wide of the post.
The deadlock was finally broken with around 20 to play. Tom Potter returning from his sin-bin found space on the edge of the area and fired a great strike towards goal which would cannon off the post directly to the feet of Bradley Chisholm to tap home the rebound in great fashion.
Tom Potter had a great free kick on the edge of the area going millimetres over the crossbar and was unfortunate not to work it’s way into the top corner.
Shields managed the game very well with more decisions falling the way of the hosts as well as a string of great saves from the Northallerton number 1 left the Robins feeling frustrated to not get more out of the game.
The hosts would go looking for an equaliser however, a combination of good defending from the visitors and the final ball not quite working for Northallerton allowed The Robins to travel back up the A1 with a well deserved and crucial three points against a more resilient Northallerton side.
FT – Northallerton Town 0 – 1 North Shields
Northallerton
Fairless, McGuckin (Graham 79′), Cocks, Moan, Luck, Flounders, Chidanyika (Hogan 69′), Conway, Dicicco, Spenceley, Banks (Thomson 15′ (Jones 79′))
Subs not used: Connor
North Shields
Hodgson, Bexton, Forster, Oliver, Myers, Robson, Hird, McIntyre, Chisholm, Potter, Turner (Joisce 81′)
Subs not used: Thompson, Ball, Leonard, Agostinho
Goals: Chisholm (69′)
Photo taken by: https://x.com/danloveday0407?s=21&t=pFN_yDaShZGyrf_mw9PVhg
