West Auckland Town vs Birtley Town

Recap

A strong defensive display earns The Hoops a point away from home. 

The Hoops have turned a corner after a difficult start to the season. In a bizarre and difficult run of fixtures, Birtley have already played seven of the current top ten, all away from home. The trip to West now makes that number eight, leaving only Kendal and Crook as the last remaining top-half sides that Birtley still need to travel to. Birtley fans have seen an upturn in form following excellent performances against Redcar, Easington and Northallerton, with that continuing against a strong West Auckland side. 

The first half of the game was very even with both teams creating good chances and also defending well. Benji put West Auckland under pressure forcing a mistake and a poor clearance from the back, however the ball fell awkwardly creating a very hard chance. Only a few minutes later West broke towards the Birtley goal and Sam Dinsley was able to recover with a quality tackle as the last man. Owen Lancaster then forced a finger tip save from Liversedge in the West goal. Not long after Alfie came out to deny West in a 1 on 1, unaware that the offside flag had already been raised. The rest of the half continued in similar fashion with one side throwing a punch and the other hitting right back. However, neither team were able to find the knockout blow.

HALF TIME | West Auckland Town 0-0 Birtley Town

The second half continued in a similar fashion to the first with both teams trying to find the lead. Alfie pulled off a number of excellent saves throughout the second half, denying West in another 1 on 1, with some fingertip saves for good measure. This defensive solidity gave the Hoops the platform they needed. In the 68th minute Sam Dinsley picked up the ball at the back and drove forward into the midfield, then picked out a quality pass into Matthew Ward. Wardy then went on a trademark run, weaving his way past 4 or 5 West players before firing past Liversedge into the far corner. The lead was short-lived however, as in the 77th minute Anthony Bell picked up the ball just outside the Birtley Box and was able to hit a fantastic effort into the top corner to draw his side level. With the form Alfie had been in, it was the only way he was going to be beaten. West then went on to take control of the game buoyed by the equaliser, however, the Hoops refused to break and the defence held strong.

FULL TIME | West Auckland Town 1-1 Birtley Town

Manager’s Corner

Reece Chapman: “

“Ultimately, we’re happy with the point. We have played 3 games in 6 days and picked up 7 points. That’s a very good return. We had to defend really well for the first 15minutes, they had a few good chances but once we settled into the game and started to relax a little bit more with the ball, we caused west some problems too. We have taken the lead in the game with a little bit of solo magic from Wardy and I think we’ve defended well after that. They scored a fantastic long-range effort. We need to do a bit better and try and get out to the ball quicker but sometimes you’ve got to put your hands up and say fair play to the lad for the strike. I said recently that its about what we do, and if the lads continue to give what they have over the last four games we will continue to pick up more points. The lads naturally deserve all the credit, and we’ve set up our week now for more tough games against Tow Law and West Allotment. The supporters clapped the lads off fantastically on Friday night and they will be needed again on Tuesday so we hope they can get behind us again.”

H2H v West Auckland
P6 W1 D2 L3 GF9 GA17

Next up…

Birtley travel to Tow Law Town in the Durham Challenge Cup.