Newton Aycliffe 2, Winterton Rangers 0
By Ryan Livingston
Newton Aycliffe picked up another impressive home win against Winterton Rangers on Saturday.
Brian Atkinson’s side now haven’t lost at home since early February and are in the play-off places as the season approaches the business end.
The first chance came when Toby Pascoe crossed the ball to Jack Clarkson, Clarkson then deftly lobbed the ball over Joe Simpson and exhibited great acrobatic skill to find the ball again and fire a shot at Nathan Popple who was forced to make a one handed save.
Charlie Dawson hit a shot from range soon after, but once again Popple made a one handed save.
Winterton have been bottom of the table for a large majority of the season, but they were still a very competitive side in the first half.
Ethan Ord had to think fast to dispossess Owen Vincent who was almost one-on-one with James Winters.
Winters was called into action again when Vincent’s cross easily found Paul Grimes, but Grimes’ header was parried by Winter and all Sam Aynsley could do was fire it high and wide.
Scott Matthews for Winterton whipped in a dangerous free kick from outside the box, but Winter quickly saved it before Grimes could get to it.
After this Winterton pressure however Aycliffe scored their first goal of the afternoon, Cieran Jackson’s cross grazed the leg of Dawson, and the ball found the foot of Kyle Davis who fired a spectacular volley at an incredibly tight angle to make it 1-0 in the 28th minute.
The first half finished 1-0, ending with Matthews having another free kick in a promising position, but this time Winter didn’t even need to move to save a poor low shot from range.
The second goal came when Lee Ridley initially won an aerial dual with Liam Jarvie, only for Ridley’s header to gift the ball to Liam Adamson.
Adamson then proceeded to waste no time in getting near Popple and cheekily nutmegging him to finish off a truly sublime goal.
Aycliffe carried on attacking, and Jarvie fired a curling low shot but was denied by Aynsley almost on the goal line.
The game became a quieter affair later in the second half until Wayne Whitfield received red card in the 86th minute. Winterton couldn’t make the man advantage count however and the score remained 2-0
Aycliffe now travel to Sheffield before returning to Moore Lane on Easter Monday (April 1), for a 3pm kick off against local rivals Dunston.
• The above picture, by Yvonne Wood, shows Jack Clarkson in action against Winterton Rangers.