By Paul McGeary
In Saturday's league encounter, Newton Aycliffe were second-best throughout yet proceeded to win 2-1 at home to a lively Team Northumbria outfit.
Tonight at a soaked Esh Group Stadium, Allan Oliver's side outplayed Durham City - two steps above them in the footballing pyramid - yet lost their unbeaten record as they ran out 2-0 losers to the Cathedral city side.
With several first-teamers missing through suspension and injury, Oliver recalled Anth Campbell, Chase McMullen, Josh Knox and Stuart Owen to his line-up while his bench was made up with Nick Petch and Steven Cunliffe - both 18, and his 17-year-old nephew James.
Just 98-seconds were on the clock when City took the lead through an outstanding strike from former Bishop Auckland winger Amar Purewal. Goalkeeper James Winter rocketed a long-ball forward to Purewal, who from the corner of the 18-yard box, picked out Scott Pocklington's top left-hand corner, with the Aycliffe custodian static.
Aycliffe slowly got their passing game going and Warren Byrne turned expertly on the edge of the area to fire at Winter after 12 minutes, but found City's number-one equal to his effort - not for the last time of the evening either.
After 23-minutes, Pocklington kept the scores within one goal as he saved superbly from Steven Thompson. Purewal dispossessed Chris Beckett on the 18-yard line and fed his centre-forward, but Pocklington dived to his left and got a strong wrist to the well-struck effort to divert it wide of his left-hand upright.
Aycliffe had a great chance to equalise two minutes later with McMullen narrowly firing over Winter's crossbar having played an intricate one-two with Craig Mickle, who himself was slowly adapting to the horrendous artificial surface.
12-minutes before half-time and Aycliffe should have been level. Owen sent a high ball into the back-post from the right-hand side and with Winter dropping the ball under pressure, Mark Peck could only stab the ball straight at Ross Wilkinson who was covering on the goal-line.
That proved a dagger in the heart of Aycliffe's night as they fell further behind just before half-time. Purewal broke from inside his own half with a rapid counter-attack and despite his low centre evading Elliot Cutts on the penalty spot, Thompson was following up at the back of the box to fire low into Pocklington's net from 15-yards.
Within three minutes of the restart, Byrne tested Winter's hands on the slippy surface but the 'keeper dived to his left and comfortably held on to the 20-yard effort.
On 53-minutes, skipper Sean Tarling missed a glorious chance to level when he capitalised on an error to run clean through on goal. His 15-yard strike however failed to fully test Winter and the 'keeper managed to scramble the effort wide for a corner.
From the resultant corner, the unmarked Peck headed wide of the right-hand post as Aycliffe sensed a way back into the game.
With 25-minutes remaining, Tarling shot wide of the same post when he was gifted an opening following strong work from McMullen just inside the area, while McMullen's turn to shoot wide came three minutes later when Mickle's cross found him at the back-post but the winger's volley went harmlessly wide of Winter's upright.
Two minutes later and this time McMullen fired wide of the front post following Owen's cross and Oliver knew it wasn't going to be his side's night when Byrne missed a glorious one-on-one after 72-minutes, with Winter parrying the Aycliffe top-scorer's uncharacteristic weakly hit effort wide for another corner.
Three minutes remained when Byrne again tested Winter, but having been sent through by Knox, the former Shildon striker could only hit his shot off the advancing stopper and watch the ball sail over.
And so Aycliffe's record run came to an end but boss Oliver must take heart from the way his side dominated a game against a side playing two-tiers above his high-flying Newtonians, who return to league action this Saturday at lowly Brandon, hoping to continue their league form which has seen them go almost two-months - and eight games - without defeat.
Star Man - Chase McMULLEN
Owen performed better as the pitch dried off whilst Peck was his usual rock-solid self at the back, but for his constant work-rate and surging runs, McMullen's return to the first-team may not just be a one-off as he caught the eye on a frustrating night for the Aycliffe management hierarchy.

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