Recap
Birtley Town FC were on fire on Saturday as they were 3-1 winners against Easington.
Match highlights are available here.
Goals from Glen Hargrave and Aidan Rutledge fired Birtley to their first victory of the season against an Easington side who were sitting nicely at the top of the table. The Hoops went into the game knowing that defeat to Easington would see them seven points behind Colliery after only three games.
Paul Foster and Paul Bryson made two changes to the side that drew with Jarrow. Josh Holland replaced Ross Preston which meant that Owen Lancaster returned to a more central position. Skipper Jack Honour returned to the side with Joe Barwick missing.
The Hoops started off a frantic pace with Glen Hargrave opening the scoring after a great through ball from Callum Smith. In the 14th minute, Smith had an opportunity to score but was flawed by the Easington keeper Andrew Hunter. Four minutes later, the Hoops were two ahead. Glen Hargrave launched a missile of a throw into the box and Rutledge popped in the rebound after a shot from Alex Francis was saved. The game was all but over in the 41st minute. An Easington corner was punched well by Conor Grant. Alex Francis then switched to Smith who delivered a beautiful cross for Hargrave to head home his second. The hosts went into the break 3-0 up.
Easington had their first chance on 51 minutes when they missed a back post volley. They did pull one back on the hour mark. Smith had a few opportunities for his first of the season but was flawed by a strong display from the Easington keeper. In the 78th minute a beautiful Birtley move nearly capped off a fine afternoon. A forward pass from Sam Hedley allowed Rutledge and Smith to play a neat one two with Rutledge slotting just wide. In the 93rd minute, Clarkson was denied by a fantastic save.
The game ended 3-1 to the Hoops and puts us into 7th position in the league. Manager Paul Bryson said: “It was a really pleasing performance and result against a strong Easington side. They will be in the mix come the end of the season. Our previous two performances have been good but we didn’t get the results that we deserved. Today, we were more clinical. We probably could have made the scoreline more convincing as Andy Hunter made some great saves in the Easington goal.”
The 143 in attendance were rewarded for their support with some fine football from Birtley and our best display of the season so far. The club were delighted to welcome back John Wilson to Birtley. John returned to the Arrowmark yesterday with his daughter (Christine) and grandson (Mark). John is one of Birtley’s longest supporters and the club were thrilled to see him back watching the Hoops. We hope to see John and his family back at the Arrowmark Home Improvements Stadium very soon.
Next up for Birtley is a home fixture against Chester-le-Street United at the Arrowmark on Tuesday 9th August (7:30pm kick off).
Man of the Match – Josh Holland
Attendance – 143
