Shildon vs Birtley Town

Recap

Birtley Town fell to a 3-0 defeat to league leaders Shildon AFC on Saturday with Andrei Ardelean scoring a hat-trick

The hosts took the lead after just seven minutes. A long clearance was delightfully control by Andrei Ardelean who slotted beyond Alfie Gordon for his first goal of the afternoon. The Hoops started to build sustained pressure in the midway point of the first half but that was cut short when Liam Wotherspoon was sin binned for dissent. Luke Spalding should of doubled Shildon’s advantage but he fired wide despite rounding Gordon. Shildon eventually doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when Ardelean finished headed home from eight yards out following a fine move down the left-hand side. 

HALF TIME | Shildon AFC 2-0 Birtley Town

Birtley made three changes at the break with Glen Hargrave, Stephen Hall and Lewis Exley all coming on for The Hoops. Shildon dominated the early proceedings in the second period and a string of Alfie Gordon saves kept Birtley in the game alongside some excellent defending. The Hoops created their best chance of the game on 63 minutes when Scott Heslop developed an attack down the left-hand side, finding Glen Hargrave but his effort went wide of the goal. 

Ardelean completed his hat-trick on 79 minutes as he coolly finished at the back post. The highlights showed that Sam Hedley was tripped by Ardelean in the build up which left him unmarked in the box. The trip went unnoticed by the referee and his assistant and Ardelean celebrated his third goal of the afternoon.

FULL TIME | Shildon AFC 3-0 Birtley Town

Attendance: 315

Player of the Match: Callum Turnbull

Manager’s Corner

Paul Bryson: “Shildon are a very very good side, I was really impressed with them. They are really well organised. They had an identity and they are not top of the league for no reason. They are a good team with good individuals. We opted to play with the wind in the first-half as we were hoping to edge a lead. We got punished after seven minutes when we failed to properly clear the ball, it was returned into the box and it was a good finish from Andrei. The game was fairly even, we were on the wrong end of a poor decision. Their midfielder won the tackle in midfield but the ball ended up with Wardy. He was in an offside position but the ball had come from the Shildon player. Spoony ended up being sin binned for his protests and that made things harder for us. It’s hard enough playing against Shildon with eleven men.”

“We seen the ten minutes out but we lost all momentum. We conceded on the stroke of half-time which was a killer blow. We tried to change it and freshen things up. We wanted to try and get back into the game. We created a good chance when Hezzy did brilliant down the sides but Glen was unable to finish. We had to score in that moment, playing against a top side. We conceded late on for 3-0. We haven’t got to be downbeat, we said to the lads that we still have four games to play for and four cup finals. They are all at home and we look forward to Tuesday when we welcome Redcar.”

H2H v Shildon (at Shildon)
P2 W1 D0 L1 GF4 GA6

Next up…

The Hoops now have four home games in a row which will complete their season. The first of these games is against Redcar Athletic on Tuesday evening with a 7.30pm kick-off. 

Highlights