By Paul McGeary
Newton Aycliffe’s bid to do the double over Bedlington Terriers was thwarted by an inept refereeing performance at Welfare Park.
Allan Oliver’s side were denied two penalties in the first half and while one could have been excused, the other, a blatant trip on Josh Knox went unpunished by the man in the middle, despite his assistant flagging for the spot-kick.
Aycliffe did get a penalty late in the game, converted by the returning Ben Wood, but that strike only served as an equaliser after Tony Shandran’s superb solo effort opened the scoring early in the second period.
The sides were separated by one place and one point in the table but it didn’t show as the Newtonians took the game to their opponents in the first half, playing some excellent stuff on a glue-pot of a pitch.
Aycliffe’s first penalty appeal came in the twelfth minute, as Dan Mellanby released Knox, only for James Novak to clip the youngster’s heels as he entered the penalty area.
The assistant referee, stood only yards from the incident was in no doubt as he flagged for the penalty, only for the referee to overrule the decision, much to the anger of the travelling dugout.
Four minutes later a 20-pass move presented Wood with a sight on goal, but his left-footed effort went wide of Craig Pickering’s right-hand upright.
Three minutes later, Dale Jardine’s throw-in was handled in the area by Richard Flynn, but this time the referee penalised Wood for an apparent push.
Aycliffe continued to force the play but their best effort only came in stoppage time as Mellanby breezed past two men but fired over the crossbar from the edge of the area.
Shandran’s intervention came in the 54th minute when he picked up a cross-field ball wide on the right, with danger seemingly non-apparent.
The 29-goal striker cut in off the flank, beat Mark Peck and Josh Gray before superbly curling a low left-footed effort into Scott Pocklington’s bottom corner.
A triple substitution by Oliver late in the game breathed fresh impetus into his side, leg-weary from the heavy conditions and further chances fell for both Wood and Mellanby, with Pickering equal on both occasions.
Nine minutes from time Knox was once more felled in the area and it proved third time lucky for the Newtonians as the whistler pointed to the spot.
Wood confidently fired low past Pickering to notch his eighth goal of the campaign on his return to the side following an eight-week spell on the sidelines with a broken arm.
Chris Carr powered a header onto the Aycliffe post with four minutes remaining while Flynn out jumped Pocklington to loop another header onto the bar in the dying embers, while Wood also hit the home woodwork with a header as the game came to a close.
Star Man
Mark Peck – Class!

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