Recap
HOOPS WIN THIRD IN A ROW FOLLOWING NINE GOAL THRILLER
Friday Night Football’s season debut at the Arrowmark delivered an absolute goal fest as Birtley came out 6-3 winners against North Shields.
Both teams came into this one off the back of back-to-back wins and with neither team having kept more than one clean sheet this season, perhaps goals were to be expected.
The game was preceeded with an impeccably observed minutes silence in memory of PC Matty Blades and PC Tom Clough.
As it seems to be the case in almost every game this season, it didn’t take long for the deadlock to be broken. This time however it was against the Hoops, as a defensive mix up allowed Nelson Ogbewe the chance to slot in his sixth goal of the season. However Birtley responded well to going behind and equalised through a stunning karate-kick from Charlie Aitken into the left hand corner from the right side of the area. In a gripping first half, the visitors almost instantly retook the lead, with a free kick being diverted goalwards, only for goalscorer Aitken to get back to clear off the line.
On the half-hour mark and the visitors did get back ahead, with an Ogbewe cross from the left being poked home by Stephen Hall from very close range. However, this time it took only four minutes to level for the second time in a chaotic opening 33 minutes. And it came through another Birtley belter as James Proctor picked up the ball 25/30 yards out and unleashed a piledriver that flew into the bottom left corner with the goalkeeper having no chance.
The goalfest of a first half wasn’t finished there though, with Gettins sending a ball across for Regan Paterson to bullet a header past the keeper for his second goal in as many games, and to give Birtley the lead for the first time on the night. There was still time for a sixth goal before the break and yet another screamer, as Matty Ward received the ball from a recycled corner and hit an incredible bending effort into the top left corner from more than 20 yards out. There was still time for one last chance but Alfie Gordon was equal to the blasted free kick.
HALF TIME: Birtley Town 4-2 North Shields
If you thought that the second half would begin anything calmer than the first, you’d have been wrong, as it took only 30 seconds for substitute Dale Burrell to finish with his first touch after coming on at the break, and further extend the Hoops lead. The game did settle down possibly for the first time with both sides making changes, but on the hour mark we had the eighth goal of the game. Charlie Aitken ran onto a ball and with a well taken finish made it 6-2 to Birtley with an hour still to play in a bonkers game.
Again however, it didn’t take long for the next goal to come along, as on 64 mins, Jordan Lashley punished some slack defending with a good finish to reduce the arrears and score the ninth of the game. Birtley – seemingly unsatisfied with 6 – continued to press forwards, with Wardy drawing a good save from Elliott after being played in by Proctor before a shot cannoned off the underside of the bar and out according to the linesman with those in green and white unconvinced.
With 15 to go Lee Mason was sin binned for presumably some sort of dissent. Birtley attempted to rub more salt in the wounds with Matty Ward having a ball cleared off the line moments before brilliantly finding Reece Harrison who really should have scored but fired way over. Despite more good chances at both ends. 6-3 is how it finished after an action-packed, bonkers and quite brilliant 90 minutes at the Arrowmark.
FULL TIME: Birtley Town 6-3 North Shields
H2H
H2H at Birtley Town (all competitions)
P22 W8 D4 L10 GF31 GA36
| DATE | HOME | F | A | AWAY | COMPETITION | ATT. | GOALSCORERS |
| 24.09.1994 | Birtley Town | 2 | 3 | North Shields | Shipowners Cup | Round 1 | U/K | P. Gallagher | J. Melling |
| 09.09.1995 | Birtley Town | 1 | 1 | North Shields Ath. | League Cup | Round 1 | U/K | R. Burge |
| 28.08.1996 | Birtley Town | 4 | 0 | North Shields Ath. | Wearside League | U/K | P. Curry | G. Dixon | P. Hinton x2 |
| 27.12.1997 | Birtley Town | 4 | 1 | North Shields Ath. | Wearside League | U/K | J. Melling x2 | B. Fleming | S. Burns |
| 31.08.1998 | Birtley Town | 0 | 3 | North Shields Ath. | Wearside League | U/K | – |
| 18.08.1999 | Birtley Town | 4 | 3 | North Shields | Wearside League | U/K | D. Hardy x2 | D. Turner | S. Burns (P) |
| 18.04.2001 | Birtley Town | 0 | 3 | North Shields | Wearside League | U/K | – |
| 24.04.2002 | Birtley Town | 1 | 5 | North Shields | Wearside League | U/K | M. Richards |
| 31.08.2002 | Birtley Town | 4 | 2 | North Shields | Wearside League | U/K | D. Ord | S. Martin | Pennington | Cosgrove |
| 27.09.2003 | Birtley Town | 2 | 1 | North Shields | Wearside League | U/K | C. McManus | M. Ford |
| 27.03.2004 | Birtley Town | 0 | 2 | North Shields | Shipowners Cup | Semi Final | U/K | – |
| 05.04.2008 | Birtley Town | 1 | 1 | North Shields | NL Div 2 | U/K | Barrie Smith |
| 07.03.2009 | Birtley Town | 1 | 0 | North Shields | NL Div 2 | U/K | S. Graham |
| 06.02.2010 | Birtley Town | 0 | 1 | North Shields | NL Div 2 | 45 | – |
| 19.02.2011 | Birtley Town | 0 | 0 | North Shields | NL Div 2 | 75 | – |
| 08.10.2011 | Birtley Town | 1 | 1 | North Shields | NL Div 2 | 62 | C. Marron |
| 14.08.2012 | Birtley Town | 2 | 0 | North Shields | FA Cup | Ex. Preliminary Rnd (Rep) | 174 | D. Smart | J. Honour |
| 23.03.2013 | Birtley Town | 0 | 3 | North Shields | NL Div 2 | 48 | – |
| 14.12.2013 | Birtley Town | 1 | 2 | North Shields | NL Div 2 | 72 | C. Hope |
| 22.04.2024 | Birtley Town | 2 | 1 | North Shields | NL Div 1 | 225 | J. Proctor x2 |
| 12.11.2024 | Birtley Town | 1 | 2 | North Shields | NL Div 1 | 265 | B. Shodeinde |
| 01.11.2025 | Birtley Town | 0 | 1 | North Shields | NL Div 1 | 262 | – |
TOP GOALSCORERS (all competitions)
| BIRTLEY TOWN | NORTH SHIELDS | ||||
| GOALS | PLAYER | PLAYER | GOALS | PLAYER | GOALS |
| 6 | Aitken, Charlie | Ogbewe, Nelson | 6 | Hall, Stephen | 2 |
| 5 | Proctor, James | Wilson, Daniel | 3 | Harmison, Ben | 1 |
| 3 | Paterson, Regan | Mason, Lee | 2 | Lashley, Jordan | 2 |
| 2 | Wotherspoon, Liam | Suddick, Lewis | 2 | Sampson, Ben | 1 |
| 2 | Burrell, Dale | Bexton, Tom | 1 | Wanless, Reece | 1 |
| 1 | Gettins, Harry | Carr, Luke | 1 | ||
| 1 | Harrison, Reece | Carr, Ryan | 1 | ||
| 1 | Marley, Nick | Cherry, Daniel | 1 | ||
| 0 | OWN GOALS | 0 | |||
| 1 | CLEAN SHEETS | 1 | |||
| 1 | FAILED TO SCORE IN | 1 | |||
Coming Up
Birtley travel to Shildon on Tuesday night with a 7:30pm kick off. Then this coming Saturday we head to Northallerton with a 3pm.
A reminder we are running our first supporter coach of the season to that game so get in contact to book your place. Then the following Saturday we head to local rivals Whickham in the FA Vase with an 8pm kick off.
Thank you for your support and we will hopefully see you on the road at Shildon or on the coach on Saturday!
UP THE HOOPS
