Recap
Birtley had the long journey back up the A19 with no reward for a spirited display as they fell to defeat at Redcar Town on Saturday afternoon.
Match Gallery is available here.
Highlights are available here.
The Hoops were left disappointed from a game in which they felt they should have been worthy of at least a point. It was Redcar who had the first opportunity when Conor Grant saved well from a Kyran Clark effort. Mike Algie further denied Birtley from taking the lead with two excellent saves. The Redcar stopper first denied Glen Hargrave from a right angle and then moments later produced a sublime save to prevent Rutledge from giving Birtley the lead. In a tight first half, The Hoops fell behind on the stroke of half-time when Ryan Keltie unfortunately sliced the ball into his own net.
Birtley looked to get back on level terms earlier in the second period. On 55 minutes Algie again produced an outstanding stop to prevent Rutledge from equalising. However, the Birtley hotshot wasn’t to be denied on the hour mark when he nodded home a superb Lewis Exley cross to draw his side level.
The Hoops were hopeful that the goal would spark Birtley into turning the game around. Those hopes were dashed when Joe Bennett smashed an unstoppable effort into the top corner which put Redcar back in the lead with just over 10 minutes remaining. Despite having a late chance to level with Josh Holland firing into the side netting after good work from debutant Lewis Orrell, Birtley couldn’t find that all-important equaliser.
Manager’s Corner
Paul Bryson had mixed feelings on the performance and the result: “Disappointed with the result but the performance was good. On another day we could have easily have won the game, the least we deserved was probably a draw in my opinion. It was heart-wrenching to lose the game. It was a typical Northern League Division Two game. Both sides gave it their all. We had two good chances in the first half. The keeper made a good save from Glen and then produced the save of the season from Aidan. Just before the break Ryan Keltie deflected the ball into his own goal. 1-0 down at half-time but we said to the lads we needed to keep going and try to convert a few chances. We played really well in the 2nd half. We were looking for the equaliser, we had a couple of good chances. Aidan had a great chance and the defender has put in a brilliant block and then he’s had another chance which Glen has actually deflected onto the bar.
“We equalised through Aidan and I thought we would go on to win the game but we made a poor decision for their second goal. We made a poor decision on the half-way line. Instead of trying to turn them around we have played a square pass, they then catch us on the counter and win a corner. The resulting corner ends up to the lad on the edge of the box and he smashed it right into the top corner. It was really fine margins. Lewis Orrell did very well when he came on and played a good ball to Josh Holland who probably should have scored but unfortunately could only hit the side netting.”
“It’s difficult as last week we didn’t play very well but got the result and I would rather have that at this stage in the season. We have to take the positives and the difference yesterday was their keeper making a top save and one of their players scoring a great goal. I have watched the highlights of the game and it really was fine margins. We need to keep working hard and look forward to Friday night. There is always a buzz at Birtley on a Friday night game and we need to get back to winning ways.”
H2H vs Redcar Town (all competitions)
P14 W7 D1 L6 GF36 GF25 Pts 10
30.08.2000 – Birtley Town 1 – 2 Redcar Town – Wearside League – [C. Marron (pen)]
14.10.2000 – Birtley Town (6p) 3 – 3 (5p) Redcar Town – Shipowners Cup | Round 1 – [UNKNOWN]
21.04.2001 – Redcar Town 4 – 1 Birtley Town – Wearside League – [A. Cosgrove]
08.09.2001 – Birtley Town 2 – 2 Redcar Town – Wearside League – [M. Richards, OG]
08.12.2001 – Birtley Town 3 – 0 Redcar Town – Shipowners Cup | Round 2 – [M. Ford | R. Lee | S. Martin]
01.04.2002 – Birtley Town 5 – 2 Redcar Town – Monkwearmouth Cup | Final – [A. Lynch | M. Ford | S. Martin | P. Wilson | OG]
01.05.2002 – Redcar Town 6 – 0 Birtley Town – Wearside League – [N/A]
17.08.2002 – Birtley Town 3 – 0 Redcar Town – Wearside League – [P. Terrell x3]
07.12.2002 – Redcar Town 1 – 5 Birtley Town – Shipowners Cup | Round 1 – [P. Terrell x2 | Paul Bryson x3]
23.04.2003 – Redcar Town 0 – 7 Birtley Town – Wearside League – [Paul Bryson x2 | M. Pitt x3 | A. Cosgrove | M. Bradley]
16.03.2022 – Birtley Town 1 – 2 Redcar Town – NL Div 2 – [J. Barwick]
09.04.2022 – Redcar Town 1 – 0 Birtley Town – NL Div 2 – [N/A]
20.08.2022 – Birtley Town 4 – 0 Redcar Town – NL Div 2 – [A. Rutledge | J. Barwick | G. Hargrave | Callum Smith]
18.02.2023 – Redcar Town 2 – 1 Birtley Town – NL Div 2 – [A. Rutledge]
Next up…
The Hoops will host Prudhoe Y.C Seniors on Friday evening in another important league fixture. Kick off is at 7:30pm.
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