Newton Aycliffe 2, Brighouse Town 1
By Ryan Livingston
Newton Aycliffe recorded a victory against Brighouse Town on Saturday to put themselves just one point outside of the play-off places.
The final score perhaps flattered Brighouse, as Aycliffe could have been out of sight well before the second half.
The first notable attack came within two minutes when Liam Jarvie not only found acres of space but also Brighouse’s keeper Jamie Hassall very much outside of the box.
Jarvie’s shot was just a bit too powerful, however, and ended up hitting the cross bar.
Marc Costello saw his header glance wide, and shortly after Kyle Davis would tee up Cieran Jackson only for his shot to fly completely over the bar.
Davis was already showing himself to be a threat, he then went on to fire a curling shot from outside the box that Hassall had to parry away for a corner.
In a similar move to Davis’ earlier attack, in which he tried to tee up Jackson, Davis broke away and attempted to pass the ball to Ethan Wood, but instead the ball ricocheted into Brighouse’s Josh Dacre to make it 1-0 within 15 minutes.
One might think the floodgates would open after this but Brighouse managed to keep the score line at 1-0 for the remainder of the first half.
They had some chances, too. Jack Wilson found himself in a good position on the edge of the Aycliffe box, but his shot sent the ball flying entirely over the goal, not even touching the crossbar on its way up.
Alexander Phillipson also narrowly missed with a header. A few minutes Phillipson found himself even closer to the Aycliffe net and once again missed as the first half drew to a close.
The second half saw Brighouse have the first big chance when Wilson fired wide after some skillful attacking play.
But Aycliffe were constantly grafting for that second goal, and when Ethan Wood made an acrobatic leap to block Jorge Sikora’s clearance, the ball found the feet of Kyle Davis who launched the perfect lob completely over Hassall on the edge of the box to make it 2-0 to Aycliffe and give himself a brace.
Brighouse weren’t ones to give up, though. Mohammad Qasim’s header narrowly went wide.
Qasim eventually beat Tom Orton, but Oscar Eckley-Aldsworth shown great defensive instinct to clear the ball before it crossed the line.
The momentum was slowly turning the way of Brighouse, and Myron Gibbons would get the away sides goal with an accurate low shot that went straight past Orton to make it 2-1.
Despite the attacking prowess shown by Brighouse when they were 2-0 down, they seemed to struggle once Gibbons had scored. Qasim did go wide and Orton saved two chances from Gibbons.
Aycliffe had one final scare before the full time whistle, a high Brighouse cross was spilled by Orton, but no one in an orange shirt could take advantage of the commotion in the box and the ball was eventually cleared.
The final whistle blew soon after, making it another home victory for Newton Aycliffe.
Aycliffe now have two away trips (Hebburn and Consett) before returning to Moore Lane on Saturday, March 2, the visit of Cleethorpes Town.
• The above picture, by Yvonne Wood, shows goalscorer Kyle Davis in action against Brighouse.