Easington Colliery vs Birtley Town

Recap

Birtley secured an injury time point at the coast on Saturday after a frantic finish to the game.

Sam Dinsley returned to the starting lineup on Saturday after a seven game absence through injury and there was a place on the bench for goalkeeper Decklan Greenwood who himself has been out of action since the end of July. He was joined by two new international recruits; midfielder Sean Comstock and striker Malachi Ray-Tharpe, both hailing from the United States.

I think it’s fair to say that even though we were on land near the coast, we were literally all at sea for a good portion of the first half and it took us a while to get a foothold in the game. Early chances for Denny Tapping and Liam Adamson, the former a tame strike after getting himself into a decent position and the latter curling his shot just wide of Max Campbell’s far post. Tapping was again involved in the 18th minute before a combination of Reece Harrison and Campbell prevented any danger from escalating.

Campbell found himself in trouble in the 22nd minute, being shown the games first yellow card for a challenge on Brad Hird, one that would have surely seen him sent off had there not been a covering defender present. He was joined a few minutes later by Jake Stafford who was cautioned for simulation.

Malachi Ray-Tharpe was introduced just before half time, replacing the injured Nick Marley and in first half injury time, there was a shout for a Birtley penalty from a James Proctor corner as the ball hit both arms of the defender in the box with all appeals ignored by the referee.

HALF TIME | Easington Colliery 0-0 Birtley Town

The first action of the second half so a very early chance for the home side. A ball over the top of the defence left the striker one on one with Dinsley before Campbell rushed from his goal to powerfully head the ball clear. Dinsa was involved again minutes later when he was caught by a stray elbow from Dane Eltringham which saw the full back booked having already been warned at an earlier foul.

The chances continued when an Easington pass split the Birtley defence, the attacker taking it around Campbell before seeing his effort cleared off the line by Reece Harrison. Jake Stafford then tried to recreate his goal against Carlisle in the previous game but saw his effort blocked by a defender after good link-up play between Ray-Tharpe and Callum Smith.

On the hour mark, Birtley began to create further chances. A diagonal ball from Lancaster found Kyle Wharton who laid the ball off to Smith. He only had the keeper to beat, dinked the ball over him but saw his effort bounce the wrong side of the post. 

Malachi Ray-Tharpe had a great chance to score in the 64th minute when he twisted and turned the defender before laying it off to Callum Smith whose strike resulted in another big penalty claim for a handball but, like the earlier one, the referee was uninterested.

Midfielder Sean Comstock was introduced in the 70th minute, replacing Jake Stafford and it took less than four minutes for the two Americans to combine to break the deadlock. A long throw-in into the box by Lancaster was half cleared and the follow-up was closed down by Comstock finding Malachi Ray-Tharpe in acres of space in the box. He steadied himself before firing home the opening goal.

With fifteen minutes to go and following the opening goal, a double change for Easington saw both James Fairley and Garon Garside enter the fray. Within five minutes Easington were back on level terms although the goal came with a lot of controversy. Fairley looked to be offside by a country mile when the ball was played through but the linesman didn’t flag. Although Campbell came out to close the angle, Fairley lifted the ball over him and into the empty net.

Ray-Tharpe had another great chance to put Birtley back in front in the 85th minute when he picked up a loose ball. Probably easier to shoot than pass, he chose the latter trying to pass the ball around the diving goalkeeper. It was a chance he may have come to regret as a minute later, James Fairley put Easington ahead for the first time in the game when he spotted Max Campbell off his line from just inside the centre circle, lifting the ball over the young keeper and into the back of the net. Liam Adamson was denied an Easington third not long after following good defending by Charlie Armin.

In the first minute of nine added on, something nobody could have predicted (well, apart from the referee I guess), Malachi Ray-Tharpe broke Easington hearts when he equalised for Birtley. An Easington corner was headed clear and Birtley broke through James Proctor. He played the ball out to the left where it was picked up by Reece Harrison who played a long ball down the touchline. It was missed by the outstretched leg of the Easington full-back leading to a 2v2 where the new Birtley man cut inside the defender and powered the ball past Keaton Marrs.

There were further chances in the remaining minutes for Birtley to find a winner through Callum Smith and James Proctor but we didn’t make the most of either situation and the game ended all square.

FULL TIME | Easington Colliery 2-2 Birtley Town

Attendance – 165
Man of the Match – Charlie Armin

H2H vs Easington Colliery (at Easington)
P6 W4 D0 L2 GF13 GA10

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It’s a run of THREE consecutive home games now for Birtley, the first of which is this Saturday (20th September) against Carlisle City. There’s no Saturday games for our Premier League teams so your support at The Arrowmark is greatly appreciated.