By Sam Robson

Yarm and Eaglescliffe extended their unbeaten run to eight games with a 4-1 win over Grangetown Boys Club at Bedford Terrace.

The game couldn’t really have started much better for Y&E as within three minutes they were ahead following a long throw in and a looping header from Joe Dalton which floated gently over the Grangetown ‘keeper and into the net handing the Y&E an early lead. They continued to build on their fast start throughout the  early part of the first half as there were chances galore for the boys, however none found the net. Little else happened in the first half as both teams tried to figure the other out with the majority of the football being played in the central third of the pitch and both defences clearing anything that came their way without much hesitation. Two big chances fell the way of Tom Atkinson towards the end of the half but a narrowly wide effort following a one-on-one and a touch that let him down inside the Grangetown box meant the Y&E went into half-time with a slender 1-goal lead.

Grangetown came out of the break much like the Y&E started the match, having the scores levelled within minutes of the restart through Lewis Martin as he poached on a spilled long shot from former Y&E player Dylan Gnaglo. Many at Bedford Terrace may have been thinking it would be a game of “what ifs” and missed chances but Joe Dalton’s second header of the night found its way past Pinnegar in the Grangetown goal, which restored Y&E lead just after the hour mark. It was a goal that came with consequences for Dalton as after getting clattered when in the air, he had to make way for Cameron Thomson after a bash to the head. There were plenty of chances again for the Y&E in the second half, few of which truly troubled the Grangetown defence helped in a big way by captain Kieran Harnett who will definitely have had a headache in the morning after clearing almost every long ball launched forward from the back.

Nerves had settled somewhat at this point with Y&E having retaken control of the game after a lightning-fast restart from Grangetown. Ultimately, it was Josh Larkin’s strike which found the net from the 6-yard box after a bit of pinballing, which put the game beyond the reach of Grangetown. Pinnegar made two excellent saves at the death to keep the score at 3-1 but after a sloppy clearance from the Grangetown defence the result was all but confirmed by Tom Atkinson’s beautiful long-distance effort which gave the Y&E their fourth of the night and their fifteenth in the last four games. It was a goal which was well deserved after all of Tom’s hard work throughout the 90 minutes.

An excellent performance from the lads all-round, extending our gap to 3rd place to four points. Still we look forward to another tough game as we travel to Park View AFC on Saturday. 

Man of the match was Joe Dalton. Voted for by Match Sponsor Renner Kompressoren