Recap
Birtley Town crashed to a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Newcastle Benfield on Friday evening.
The Hoops went into the game with a lack of defensive options with Dale Burrell, Sam Hedley and Owen Lancaster all unavailable. Nick Marley returned to the starting line-up for the first time in four games. It was Benfield who had the first chance of the game with Alfie Gordon making a good save to deny Luke Duffy. Nick Marley had Birtley’s first real opening but was well denied by Hughes. Gordon again was on-hand to deny James Wilson. Promise N’Zumba, who was a constant threat throughout the evening, was starting to cause issues midway through the first-half but it was Birtley who took the lead.
Charlie Aitken was played in on goal by a well-placed long pass from Kyle Wharton. Aitken managing to lift the ball above Hughes and into the empty net, an excellent finish from the Birtley striker. The lead was short lived as Phil Riley scored for Benfield just two minutes later. James Sampson then made it 2-1 to Benfield with the games third goal in just six minutes.
Half-Time | Birtley Town 1 – 2 Newcastle Benfield
The Hoops started the 2nd period looking for a way into the game and the first opportunity fell to Nick Marley but the Birtley talisman was caught between two minds and the chance came to nothing. The lively Promise Nzumba then doubled Benfield’s lead on the hour mark. In truth Birtley never really got into the game once they went 3-1 down until the final moments. The visitors were reduced to 10 men on 86 minutes as Lewis Watson handled the ball on the line. Liam Wetherspoon stepped up but his effort was saved by Hughes. From the resulting rebound, Nick Marley received a 2nd yellow card for a late challenge on Hughes. That bizarre 60 seconds concluded a disappointing evening for Birtley as they could have no complaints on a well deserved win for Newcastle Benfield.
Full-Time | Birtley Town 1 – 3 Newcastle Benfield
Attendance – 162
H2H vs Newcastle Benfield (at Birtley)
P4 W3 D0 L1 GF15 GA8
| DATE | HOME | F | A | AWAY | COMPETITION | ATT. | GOALSCORERS |
| 30.03.2024 | Birtley Town | 6 | 1 | Newcastle Benfield | NL Div 1 | 211 | A. Francis x2 | M. Ward x2 | S. Heslop | L. Wotherspoon |
| 06.08.2024 | Birtley Town | 2 | 3 | Newcastle Benfield | NL Div 1 | 210 | J. Proctor | J. McLean |
| 26.08.2025 | Birtley Town | 3 | 2 | Newcastle Benfield | NL Div 1 | 158 | E. Bewley | N. Marley | S. Heslop |
| 07.04.2026 | Birtley Town | 4 | 2 | Newcastle Benfield | League Cup | R3 | 112 | D. Burrell | L. Thear x2 | S. Hedley |
Top Goalscorers
| BIRTLEY TOWN | NEWCASTLE BENFIELD | ||
| 6 | Aitken, Charlie | Ames, Joe | 2 |
| 6 | Proctor, James | Annang-Colquhoun, Michael | 2 |
| 4 | Burrell, Dale | Hayton, Matthew | 2 |
| 4 | Wotherspoon, Liam | Leach, Robert | 1 |
| 3 | Paterson, Regan | Orrell, Lewis | 1 |
| 2 | Marley, Nick | ||
| 1 | Gettins, Harry | ||
| 1 | Harrison, Reece | ||
| 1 | Ward, Matthew | ||
| 0 | OWN GOALS | 1 | |
| 1 | CLEAN SHEETS | 1 | |
| 1 | FAILED TO SCORE IN | 7 | |
Up next…
Birtley host Horden CW on Tuesday evening with a 7.30pm kick-off.
