Aycliffe Sports Clu 6, Willington Cottles 1
Wear Valley Sunday Morning League 14th December 2014
By Paul Eales
The first home game in six weeks saw Newton Aycliffe Sports Club FC host one of the front runners, Willington Cottles, in a return to league action.
With Craig Barrigan still out through injury and Sam McKerr unavailable veteran Dave Hall, continued to deputise at centre half despite suffering a mystery illness which had got the better of a lot of the first team squad this week.
Up against the odds it was still the home side that took the lead on 12minutes. A free kick was lofted into the box from Anth Campbell and Connor Hughes rose above the defence to head past a stranded keeper. The lead lasted less than 10 minutes as the away side took advantage of some sloppy defending to equalise. The remainder of the half saw both sides try to stamp their authority, but ultimately cancelling each other out as they went into the break all square.
With Dave Hall unable to continue in the second half, Gareth Boyes came off the bench to slot into the back 3 and bring some much needed guile back into the defence. On the 55 minute mark, the home side were awarded a dubious penalty but took the opportunity when Chris Jones put the Sports Club in front again from the spot.
Within 10 minutes, Jones was again brought down in the box and took the opportunity to slot home his brace from the spot making it 3-1 to the hosts. Shortly after, Jones made way for Tom Postle, after suffering a slight injury and Postle turned provider for Connor Hughes who scored his brace on 70 minutes. Postle then missed a golden opportunity to kill the game off when he somehow failed to connect with a cross that was harder to miss than score. However, he made amends for this a few moments later, breaking through the defence to slot home a well-deserved goal and make it 5-1.
As the game entered into the last few minutes, another penalty was awarded to Aycliffe Sports Club and with Jones now off the field, Hughes had the chance to grab his hatrick and extend his lead on his injured strike partner. Making no mistake from the spot, Hughes grabbed the 6th and final goal, picking up the Man of the match award and taking his tally to 20 for the season. The strike partnership of Jones and Hughes (or Quinn and Phillips as they are now been compared too) is proving formidable, with 37 goals between them and one more game to go as we head towards the Christmas Break.
This excellent run of form has seen NASC FC close the gap on the top teams in the division, with games still in hand on those above and around them. Next weekend’s final game of 2014 sees the Sports Club at Home again, to familiar opposition in Bishop Auckland Laceys.
Team: Andy Hartley, Jonathan Clegg, David Hall, Mark Craggs, Craig Hannant, Darren Bossomworth, Anthony Campbell, Ryan Stonehouse, David Teder, Connor Hughes, Chris Jones.
Subs (used): Shaun Grant, Tommy Young and Tom Postle