Captain Cam Wild’s 92nd-minute header from a Ste Roberts free-kick gave the Y&E an important 1-0 victory away at Crook Town. The victory keeps us in 5th place in the league on 24 points from 13 games.
The Millfield is one of the best, if not the best, grounds in the Northern League. The conditions were pretty much perfect as the lads arrived, aside from the almost obligatory breeze across the pitch.
There were a couple of changes from our 1-1 draw against Blyth on Tuesday night: Tom Atkinson was back up front, Bubba returned in central midfield, and Dan Jones was back in central defence.
The first half was largely uneventful, with both teams having decent spells of play but not creating much. The game started slowly, but there was a bit more action towards the end of the half. On 36 minutes, a flicked header from Dan Jones was met by Cam, but his header went over the bar.
Callum was called into action on 41 minutes, saving well. From the resulting corner, he pulled off a superb reaction save to prevent a Joe Dalton own goal. On the stroke of half-time we had our best chance, with Joe Dalton shooting just wide. Half-time: goalless and both teams very much in the game.
Into the second half, Crook had an early shout for a penalty waved away. The hosts were having most of the possession and created a few chances, forcing Callum into a run of excellent saves, with Dan Jones also contributing an excellent block just before he was replaced by Sam Conway.
There was a bit of a scramble in the box, with Callum saving well before Joe Dalton was able to clear off the line. We were under some pressure, but Crook weren’t able to capitalise—including a cross that went straight across the face of goal, but nobody was there to convert. We didn’t really create much up front; we did get clear, but Mikey and Tom weren’t able to capitalise as the referee’s assistant flagged for offside.
As the game headed to a close, the feeling amongst the away support was that a point would be very welcome. Into stoppage time, a Crook attack was cleared and Ste Roberts—who had come on for Josh Larkin—collected the ball and fed it to Sam Conway. Sam attacked down the left-hand side and ended up on the ground with a Crook player, with the ref awarding a Y&E free-kick. Ste Roberts whipped it in with his right foot towards the far post, where Cam Wild was there to nod home deep in stoppage time. Ste reckons it was in before Cam headed it, while Cam reckons he headed it over the line. I honestly don’t mind!! The main thing was it went in.
What a time to score! What a smash-and-grab raid—our only shot on target and we’d scored!! There wasn’t time for Crook to get back at us before the ref blew up; we’d got the three points.
The home side will be rueing the fact that they didn’t convert any of their chances. They were the better team across the course of the game and had the better chances, but didn’t get the ball in the back of the net. Good luck to them for the rest of the campaign.
As for the Y&E—well, another late, late show! Somehow, once again, we found a way to get an important late goal. We can add Crook to games against Horden, Birtley, and Blyth Town where we’ve salvaged something late on. The lads defended well; we didn’t create much, but we kept working, kept going, and managed to get the win. That’s the statistic that counts.
Man of the Match was Callum Roberts. He was superb once again, added some new members to his fan club behind the goal, and kept us in the game with some excellent saves. In front of him, the defence was solid and played well. In midfield we battled, and up front we didn’t get much of the ball but kept working.
On to Newton Aycliffe at home on Tuesday night—another tough game. We’ll see you there backing the lads!
⚪️🔵🦅
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