Newcastle Benfield 2, Newton Aycliffe 4
By Bob Wood
Newton Aycliffe produced another fantastic display on Saturday to go level on points with Bishop Auckland at the top of the Ebac Northern League.
Aycliffe’s four goals at Newcastle Benfield gave them their sixth straight win while Bishop slipped up at Pickering Town.
In a game played in blustery conditions, Brian Atkinson’s side looked confident from the start but it wasn’t until the 26th minute that they broke the deadlock.
A pass from the left wing found Marc Costello unmarked. He took a single touch then unleashed a fierce shot from 25 yards which sailed over the keeper’s head and into the net.
Seven minutes later Liam Jarvie made it 2-0. The Benfield defence failed to clear a corner. Callum Munro and Liam Adamson combined to get the ball through to Jarvie who fired home from just inside the penalty area.
Aycliffe had a strong start to the second half with Jarvie making it 3-0 within two minutes of the restart.
Once again the defence failed to clear with the ball falling to Ethan Wood. His inch perfect pass over the defenders found Jarvie who beat the home keeper to get his second goal of the game.
The home side grasped a fortunate lifeline on 55 minutes when Oscar Eckley-Aldsworth’s back pass took a cruel bounce in front of Aycliffe keeper Adam McHugh before rolling into the net.
Liam Adamson restored the three-goal advantage ten minutes later finding space on the right and calmly firing his shot into the net.
Benfield pulled back a further goal on 73 minutes but the result never looked in doubt.
Aycliffe return to the SecuriCorp Stadium on Saturday (January 21) when third-placed Whitley Bay will be the visitors.
Bay currently sit five points behind Aycliffe but have three games in hand. They have, however, had mixed results lately including two heavy defeats.
The reverse fixture saw the two sides take a point each, sharing six goals so Saturday’s game could be another thriller.
Kick-off at Moore Lane is at 3pm. Admission is £7 adults, £5 concessions with accompanied under 12s free.
The above picture, by Yvonne Wood, shows Aycliffe’s Liam Adamson hurdling a Newcastle Benfield defender.
