Birtley Town vs Northallerton Town

Recap

Birtley maintained their good start to life in Northern League Division One with a 5-0 victory over Northallerton on Tuesday evening. 

Match programme is available HERE. Match Highlights are HERE. 

The Hoops named an unchanged side from the team that beat Sunderland West End 2-0 in the FA Vase. Birtley made a slow start to the game and had Alfie Gordon to thank for keeping Northallerton at bay. The visitors thought they had opened the scoring after just five minutes but Jamie Davis was deemed to be offside. Gordon then made a fine stop deny Riley Mouat. The Hoops struggled to retain possession in the early stage with Owen Lancaster and Alex Francis both displaying excellent last-ditch defending to keep Gordon’s birthday clean sheet in check. 

Birtley began to settle in the midway point of the first half and eventually landed the first blow in the tie. Stephen Hall was played in behind the visitors defence and Lee Moore brought him down inside the area. Skipper Alex Francis stepped up and fired the ball underneath Ben Fairless. Town had an immediate chance to equalise through Alistair Banks but he was denied by another Alfie Gordon save. The game felt like it would be decided by fine margins and Birtley extended their lead within minutes. Callum Turnbull won an initial header which was helped on by Callum Smith. That released Glen Hargrave and his first touch took him inside of the defender before slotting ball into the far corner with outside of his right foot. 

Half – Time | Birtley Town 2 – 0 Northallerton Town

The Hoops entered the second-half knowing that Town had been a threat throughout the opening 45 minutes.  Birtley started the second half at a frantic pace and it took them just 8 minutes to score a further two goals. Jack Robson found Stephen Hall on the edge of the area and he spun on a sixpence to beat the Ally defender before slotting home. By 53 minutes the game was over, the energetic James Proctor found Callum Smith and he found the bottom right-hand corner despite a spectacular effort from Fairless. 

Birtley had further chance to extend their lead through Hall, Hargrave and Proctor while at the other end another superb Alfie Gordon save denied a consolation for Northallerton. Birtley did manage to find goal number 5 in the dying stages. Club captain Andrew Clarkson found young Josh Strassheim who fed the ball onto Hargrave. Glen drove at the Town backline before unleashing a fierce drive that found the bottom corner to cap off a fine victory for Birtley. 

Full – Time | Birtley Town 5 – 0 Northallerton Town

It was a game that was decided on key periods and to the delight of the home support, Birtley came out winners. The Hoops must now travel to West Allotment Celtic on Saturday in what will be a very difficult task. 

Manager’s Corner 

Brysa was pleased to get back to league action and an important win. “It was a fantastic performance and result. It keeps a really good run going. We started the game a little slowly but gradually started to dictate the play. We got the penalty, which Alex tucked away, before Glen scored a great goal. We went into half-time at 2-0 which is always a dangerous scoreline. We spoke about being on the front foot and playing with a high tempo. We certainly did that in the second half. We score two quick fire goals. Jack Robson did fantastic to find Hally and he produced a great spin and finish. Smiggs then scored a really good goal after good link up play with Proc. I was delighted with the lads. The game after this stage went a little bit flat but Glen rounded it off nicely for us. Really pleasing performance and result, I thought Owen Lancaster and Alfie Gordon were both excellent.”

Overall H2H record vs Northallerton Town
P16 W4 D1 L11 GF19 GA36 Pts 13

Home record
P8 W3 D0 L5 GF11 GA16 Pts 9

Next up

The Hoops make a difficult trip to face West Allotment Celtic on Saturday with a 3pm kick-off.

Highlights