Birtley Town vs Shildon AFC

Recap

The Hoops suffered late heartbreak for the second time this month, conceding a 91st minute goal which saw visitors Shildon leave with all three points on Tuesday night.

Shildon burst out of the traps in the early exchanges with no fewer than three good chances in the opening ten minutes. The first after a mere two minutes coming from a nothing cross that should have been dealt with, but for a miskicked clearance which saw the ball fall to Billy Greulich-Smith in the box. Normally, you’d have put your life savings on him slotting home but thankfully he put his effort wide. The next two chances were a lot closer with both efforts hitting opposite uprights before being cleared.

Birtley’s first chance came in the 20th minute when James Proctor found space in the box on the right hand side before crossing to Reece Harrison on the opposite side. Unfortunately, he couldn’t connect with the ball and fired wide.

The deadlock was broken through Ben Reay in the 23rd minute. Gaining possession in the middle of the pitch, he evaded a sliding challenge which led him into the box where he fired past Max Campbell from 12 yards.

On the half hour mark, Birtley went close again as Proctor and Liam Thear combined in the box. It looked for a second as though Thear had lost possession but seconds later he’d retrieved it, forcing Kieran Hunter in the Shildon goal to spill his shot before claiming the loose ball.

Just before the interval, a further two chances came Birtley’s way; a good delivery from Proctor finds Harrison again but he can’t get his header on target and a minute later, Nick Marley’s header from a corner appeared to have hit a Shildon arm in the box however the appeals were waved away and despite another corner, the ball was claimed by Hunter.

HALF TIME | BIRTLEY TOWN 0-1 SHILDON AFC

Birtley recorded the first chance of the second half in the 46th minute when a speculative high ball into the box from Joe Hailes saw the Shildon keeper fumble it before his full back cleared the danger. At the other end, Greulich-Smith and strike partner Andre Ardelean combined. The latter found Campbell off his line and instead of going for the lob, he tried to take it round him, firing wide of the target in the process.

Ben Reay was denied by a perfectly-timed tackle from James Proctor and then, a few minutes later Reece Harrison made up quite a bit of ground to deny Ardelean a cross into the box. Birtley had a chance of their own in the 57th minute when Owen Lancaster’s cross-shot cannoned off the top of the crossbar. The linesman gave a corner, the referee a goal kick. Quickly overruling himself, the corner was swung in where it was bundled over the line by Liam Thear who opened his Birtley account in the process.

Thear had another chance in the 67th minute after once again linking up with James Proctor. The former played in the latter before the latter crossed for the former but his header was agonisingly wide of the far post and the game remained level.

Jake Stafford’s block in the box denied Shildon another good opportunity to take the lead before Max Campbell produced a good diving save one minute before spilling a second shot which was cleared for a corner, this time the strike was wide from Greulich-Smith.

The Birtley post was struck for the third time with ten minutes remaining with Ben Reay’s effort from close range missing the chance to double his and his sides tally. Shildon came close again a few minutes later through Greulich-Smith when his header was partially saved by Campbell, continuing towards goal before being hooked off the line by Owen Lancaster.

With five minutes remaining, another great save from Campbell denied a Shildon free kick. The danger wasn’t over at this stage and in the first minute of injury time, a foul on a Birtley player at one end of the pitch went unpunished, Shildon countered and scored the winner through Luke Spalding. A heartbreaking end to the game for the lads who had certainly put a shift in and deserved to take something from it.

FULL TIME | BIRTLEY TOWN 1-2 SHILDON AFC

Attendance: 162

MOTM: Liam Thear

H2H vs Shildon (at Birtley)
P3 W1 D1 L1 GF6 GA7