Newton Aycliffe FC v Birtley Town FC

By Paul McGeary
Aycliffe tonight stretched their unbeaten league run to eight games with a 1-0 win at Birtley Town.
It was a less-than convincing victory over the bottom-of-the-table side with what was Aycliffe’s third single-goal winning margin over the Hoops already this season.
In a game littered with talking points, surrounding largley around some questionable decisions from all three officials, the visitors claimed the points when Mark Wood despatched a 37th-minute penalty after Dan Mellanby, who managed to shake off a back injury to play, was adjudged to have been felled inside the area.
It was arguably the softest of four penalty claims on the evening – three for Aycliffe and their former Darlington man, and one for the hosts.
Ste Richardson saved well after the break to deny David Hopper who outmuscled the otherwise faultless Dan Mitton as Aycliffe scrambled their way to victory, and their seventh clean sheet of the campaign.