Penrith vs Birtley Town

Recap

The Hoops brought all three points home from the Frenchfield Stadium on Saturday with a thrilling victory over Penrith.

Match gallery is available here. 

Birtley started a crucial week in brilliant fashion as they beat Penrith in Cumbria for only the second time in their history. Goals from Matty Ward, Glen Hargrave, Dan Wilds and Kyle Wharton secured all three points for the Hoops. Birtley could have been ahead in the first minute when Glen Hargrave raced through on goal but it was intercepted by Bonny Blues stopper Harvey Reay, the ball falling kindly to James Proctor who was ultimately fouled by Reay. The referee awarding a yellow card to Reay within the first 60 seconds.

Birtley were ahead three minutes later when the in-form Matty Ward capitalised on a poor back pass to round the ‘keeper and slot home. The Hoops doubled their lead on the quarter-hour mark, Glen Hargrave managing to score whilst lying down for the second game in a row after an excellent cross from Dan Wilds. Penrith threatened themselves with Alfie Gordon superbly denying a Conor Hammell set piece as he tipped the ball over the crossbar. Hargrave thought he had notched a second in the closing stages of the half but his 25-yard chip cannoned back off the crossbar.

HALF TIME | Penrith 0-2 Birtley Town

The second half started slowly with head injuries to Sam Hedley and Glen Hargrave meaning there was no real flow to the game. It was Penrith who struck first with Matty Moynan pulling one back on the hour mark before Birtley’s two-goal cushion was restored just seven minutes later. James Proctor delivered a corner to the back post which was helped back across the area by Hargrave. The ball fell to Dan Wilds who coolly turned and finished for his first goal in Birtley colours. The two-goal lead lasted only three minutes as Penrith were once again back in the game through Luke Hunter’s flicked header. 

A frantic passage of play ended with Birtley getting their fourth of the afternoon on 68 minutes. Hargrave was again the provider as he found Kyle Wharton who fired into the bottom left-hand corner after an excellent move. In a crazy ten minutes, which saw four goals, Birtley had managed to keep their two goal advantage. The game seemed to settle for the remainder of the second half until Luke Hunter scored his second goal in injury time. Birtley managed to hold out through six minutes of time added on to bring home a crucial three points. 

FULL TIME | Penrith 3-4 Birtley Town 

Player of the match – Kyle Wharton

Attendance – 130 including around 30 traveling Birtley supporters. 

Manager’s Corner

Paul Bryson: “We had a brilliant day, the bus journey home was brilliant and I want to thank the club on behalf of myself and the lads for providing us with a great day. The club work hard at providing a brilliant morale from everyone from the players, to the staff and then the committee/volunteers. It really helps team spirit, winning also helps that as well!”

“We started the game really well. Owen returned to the starting line up in place of Callum Turnbull which was a really difficult decision. Wardy put us 1-0 up and I was really pleased with how we went about the game. Dan Wilds stands the ball up for Glen to double our lead. It was really pleasing. We could have gone 3-0 up with Spoony having a good opportunity and Glen nearly scored with a worldy of a chip. We came in at half-time and we were 2-0 up after a really pleasing opening period.

“We never really got going in the second half. Heds picked up a head injury, then Proc came off and Glen also received a knock to the head. We didn’t really have any continuity. They capitalised on that to make it 2-1.  Our response was really pleasing with Dan Wilds scoring to make it 3-1. Penrith played some really nice football though and they got it back to 3-2. Kyle then made it 4-2, which rounded off a great move and a brilliant performance from him. They scored right at the death to make it 4-3. It’s a really pleasing result and it was a fantastic day. Our lads adapted to the 3G pitch and we look forward to Northallerton on Wednesday.”

H2H vs Penrith AFC (all fixtures)
P3 W2 D1 L0 GF6 GA3

Next up…

Birtley travel to Northallerton on Wednesday evening for a 7.30pm kick-off. 

Highlights