Birtley Town vs Tow Law Town

Recap

Birtley progressed into the next round of the cup after  demolishing Tow Law Town 8-1. 

Match programme is available HERE. 

Match Report

Birtley made 8 changes to the side which had beat Tow Law in the league on Saturday. Isaac Robinson started in goal with Josh Holland coming in right back for his first start of the season. Josh Straissheim returned to the side alongside Callum Turnbull in central defence. Lewis Exley remained at left back. Drew Lake was alongside Ben Pentland in midfield. Lewis Orrell, Matty Ward and Jack Robson supported Stephen Hall in attack.  

There was little to shout about for both sides in the first half. Stephen Hall had a couple of half opportunities to open the scoring but the game remained goalless. The second half was to be a completely different affair. 

HALF TIME | Birtley Town 0 – 0 Tow Law Town

It took just three minutes for the second half to bring a goal. Jack Robson’s jinky run allowed him to break into the box and neatly finish to break the deadlock. The lead was doubled just two minutes later. A nice passage of play found Josh Holland on the right wing. He rolled the ball into Matty Ward inside the area. He twisted and turned before unleashing a superb strike into the far corner. Stephen Hall further extended the lead on 58 minutes when the lawyers keeper completely misjudged a long ball allowing Hally to slot into the empty net. 

It wasn’t all one way traffic in the second period with Tow Law pulling a goal back through Adam Lennox after Birtley had failed to clear their lines. There was a raft of substitutions in the midway point of the second half from both teams. The goal from Tow Law seemed to spark Birtley into life and they restored their three goal advantage. The substitutes had an immediate impact with Scott Heslop breaking free from the Lawyers defence. His shot was parried before Owen Lancaster slotted home. Lewis Orrell further extended the lead on 77 minutes with a neat turn and finish in the box 

Callum Smith scored the best of the bunch on 78 minutes when he smashed a right footed effort into the top-right hand corner after great work from Josh Straissheim. Scott Heslop scored his inevitable goal shortly after following a neat ball from Kyle Wharton. Callum Smith completed the demolition in injury time after he latched onto a neat ball from Drew Lake before rounding the keeper. 

FULL TIME | Birtley Town 8 – 1 Tow Law Town

Birtley will now go into the next round of the Durham Challenge Cup. The draw will be posted on the Durham FA YouTube channel.  

Manager’s Corner

Paul Bryson said: “I am really pleased with the result. We are through to the next round of the Durham Challenge Cup, that is what we set out to do. It was a great exercise for us as it allowed a number of players to get some additional minutes and stake a claim for a place in the team on Friday. We had a couple of players coming back from injury so it was good to see them back too.

The first half we were a little bit slow in possession, we didn’t move the ball quick enough and we weren’t quick with our moving. We tinkered with a couple of things at half-time. We were excellent in the second half. The first twenty minutes of the second half we scored some really good goals and gained a 3-0 advantage. We made a couple of changes with 30 minutes left to go. We scored 8 and we had 7 different scorers. We didn’t pick up any injuries. The whole game was really pleasing. We will look forward to seeing the draw on Friday followed by the league game against Whickham.” 

H2H vs Tow Law Town (at Birtley)
P9 W3 D1 L5 GF16 GA13

Next up…

The Hoops host Whickham AFC on Friday evening in a local derby. Kick-off at Birtley is 7.30pm

Highlights