Sat. 21st January 2012 – Morpeth 2nd vs Newcastle 1st
Morpeth 2 – 2 Newcastle
Scorer: Foster (2)
M.O.M: Craggs/Mooney
A depleted Morpeth faced a tough fixture against a young and energetic Newcastle side. With some new faces in the team Morpeth knew they would be in for a tough game, which the frantic pace of the opening minutes did little to dispel. The game developed in to a tight midfield battle with both teams pressing hard offering little space, the chances that did come in the opening 15 minutes were easily dealt with by both keepers. As Newcastle pressed Morpeth struggled to maintain possession for any length of time, looking to hit on the counter, whilst Newcastle for all their possession never created any clear cut chances.
The game sparked in to life 5 minutes before the break, a Newcastle player managing to break a tackle his surging run and snap shot at the edge of the circle sneaking in the far corner. This was a wake up call for Morpeth who had been sloppy in possession, from the restart Morpeth played the ball around with an increased pace working the opening and forcing a penalty corner. The injection was stopped by Foster who hammered the ball home from the resulting shot. Morpeth level only moments after going behind.
Half time 1-1
Morpeth knew they had to step up their game in the second half and began to press Newcastle higher up the pitch, taking the game to them. The pressure began to tell as Morpeth dominating possession created openings just lacking the final touch to take the lead. As the half wore on Newcastle looked increasingly for the long ball to relieve the pressure, it was from these hopeful long balls they took the lead. A long ball forward found the newcastle winger, whos hopefull ball in to the D managed to deflect of the forwards stick and inbetween the goalkeeper and the post, with only 3 minutes left Morpeth looked beaten.
Yet just like in the first half the railed, from the restart Mooney drove forward playing the ball to Craggs who was immediately fouled. Taking the self pass quickly driving forward he slipped the ball through to Foster who calmly took a touch and rolled it past the keeper. Morpeth level again less than 30 seconds after conceding. The game ended 2-2 a fair result after a great effort from both teams. Morpeth can be proud of their fighting spirit, whilst ruing the chances they missed to take all three points!
