North Shields vs Birtley Town

Recap

The points were shared following our trip down the river.

In our second game of the 2024/2025 season The Hoops travelled to the Darren Persson Stadium looking to pick up their first points. The Hoops had an even bigger group of travelling fans given that North Shields is much more local than Penrith. On this occasion the points were shared, following a closely contested game. This game also saw The Hoops show off their new Away Kit, which is a wonderfully striking shade of blue.

In the first half neither team was able to fully assert themselves. With both teams creating some chances. The Hoops had their best chance fall to Nick Marley after James Proctor won the ball high up the pitch, he was able to slide the ball into Marley who wasn’t quite able to find the finishing touch. North Shields had their best chances through a number of corners which put the pressure on the Birtley back line, however they stood strong and we went into half time 0-0. 

Heading into the second half both teams continued the fight to take the lead. The first 20-25 minutes followed a similar pattern to the first half with both teams creating the occasional chance, whilst trying to find the decisive blow. North Shields found the back of the net first through Kyle Downey in the 68th minute. North Shields were able to win the ball high up in the Birtley half and quickly got forward to create a significant overload, with Downey finishing the move.

Chapman and Clarkson reacted immediately making positive attacking changes from the bench. The Hoops started to put the pressure on in the last 15 minutes, with Kyle Wharton winning a penalty after driving into the box from the right wing. Proctor stepped up to take the penalty on this occasion, and calmly placed the ball to the right as Hodgson in the Shields net dived the opposite way. Both teams continued to push to try and find a last minute winner, but the final whistle came first.

Following the game we caught up with Hoops Manager Chapman to get his thoughts on the game, “I thought it was a really competitive game. We have to give North Shields a huge amount of respect, we knew it would be a tough game. We had our gameplan for the first 50-60 minutes, we wanted to make sure we stayed in the game off the ball and applied pressure when we had the ball. I do think North Shields had the better of the chances in the first half.

Chapman went on to say, “it was really end to end in the second half and their goal really came out of nothing, but we showed huge character to come back in to the game, with the penalty being put away brilliantly. There are 9 games in August so there are going be a lot of tough games for all teams, so credit to the lads for pushing forward. This is something we will be able to use in the future.

You can also watch the full interview with Manager Reece Chapman HERE.

Our Preview of our FA Cup Extra preliminary round against Bridlington will follow soon.

H2H at North Shields – last 10 (all competitions)