Newton Aycliffe FC v Guisborough Town

By Glen RobertsonNewton Aycliffe banished the demons of letting leads slip against Guisborough with a dogged 1-0 victory at the King George V Stadium.
Stuart Owen’s opportunistic strike three-minutes before the break was enough to give Aycliffe a fourth consecutive victory, and kept up the club’s winning run during the ‘Movember’ campaign.
There were a few spectacular tashes on display, but the quality of football was not quite on the same level. A stop-start game played on a surface that suited neither teams’ attempt at playing possession football led to a scrappy spectacle.
With Sean Tarling suspended, Darren Craddock wore the captain’s armband as he replaced the departed Phil Gray at left-back. Mark Peck joined John Close in the middle of the defence, with Josh Knox starting alongside Tom Portas in the midfield.
It was a quiet start to the game as neither side could get any rhythm going. Dale Jardine had the best sight of goal in the first 30-minutes, latching onto a loose ball from the Guisborough defence but scuffing his shot from 30-yards out.
Scott Pocklington was called into action in the 24th-minute. Shane Henry’s over-hit cross from the right was creeping under Pocklington’s crossbar until the 21-year-old tipped the ball over the bar.
Guisborough’s Joel Guy was stretchered off after half-an-hour with a nasty looking injury – an ambulance arrived for him during half-time – after an innocuous clash with Paul Broom. Tempers frayed over the incident, with both benches involved in a heated argument.
Once the game settled down following the incident, Aycliffe set about looking for an opening goal and it arrived three-minutes before half-time. Elliot Gardner worked some space on the edge of the area but saw his shot bounce back off Jack Norton's left-hand post. Owen reacted quicker than anyone and steered the ball into the corner to give Aycliffe the lead at the interval.
As Aycliffe fans will know, a lead against Guisborough is never a safe one. The home side held their half-time team-talk in the centre-circle and started the second-half all guns blazing.
First Luke Bythway saw Stephen Gibson in the way of his goalbound effort, before Pocklington held well from James Decosemo’s free-kick. Mark Peck was the next to protect the clean sheet, making a last-ditch tackle on the edge of his penalty area to prevent Bythway breaking through.
Guisborough’s best chance came just after the hour-mark. Bythway’s cross found Austin Johnston in plenty of space on the edge of the penalty area but the midfielder blazed over.
The home-side could count themselves lucky to have 11 players on the pitch after 71-minutes. Substitute Decosemo, who had already been booked, hacked down Broom from behind as Aycliffe looked to break, but the referee decided against showing the midfielder a second yellow.
Guisborough had the ball in the back of the net four-minutes later, but the assistant’s flag soon stopped the home side’s celebrations. The last 10-minutes were littered with fouls from both sides, with the referee quick on his whistle to give free-kicks. He wasn’t so quick when the home-side went up appealing for a penalty as the game neared its conclusion, much to the annoyance of the Priorymen supporters.
But there was to be none of the late drama that was commonplace in this fixture last season, and Aycliffe held-on for their third away victory of the season.
Star Man
Mark Peck – return!