Durham City v Shildon AFC

Second half highlights of Shildon’s return to the top of the league after a last minute winner Ben Wood at New Ferens Park against Durham City.

Unfortunately technical difficulties mean we couldn’t bring you the first half of this match, in which Shildon took a 4th minute lead through Paul Connor. Fortunately, the remaining four goals in this five-goal thriller came in the second half.

Mortimer Scores but U13’s lose

Under 11’s

Kirk Merrington  v  SHILDON

Man of the Match –

 

Under 13’s

Tollesby  8  1  SHILDON

Scorer – Jack Mortimer

Man of the Match – Cain Smith

The U13’s travelled to Middlesbrough, to face a Tollesby team who had beaten them 5-4 only a couple of weeks ago.  From the start, Shildon were on the back foot with Tollesby working hard in midfield.  The first clear chance though fell to Shildon, when Noah McCourt broke on goal, but the keeper managed to parry the ball to safety.  On 15 minutes, Tollesby took the lead with a well worked goal.  2 minutes later, a Shildon break up the left wing resulted in a great cross which Chloe Geary managed to latch on to, only for the woodwork to save the home team.  On 22 minutes, with defender Cain Smith off the field with an injury, Tollesby took advantage and doubled their lead.  5 minutes later it was 3-0.   On 35 minutes, Shildon hit the post again, when McCourt hit a great shot. 

In to the second half, and Tollesby extended their lead further on 37 minutes, and went 5-0 on 45 minutes.  A couple of minutes later, Shildon hit the woodwork again, then had an effort cleared off the line.  On 56 minutes, the hosts hit their 6th of the game, before Jack Mortimer finally got the Shildon team on to the score sheet.  In the last couple of minutes Tollesby scored another 2 against a dispirited team.

 

Under 16’s

Northallerton Juniors  v  SHILDON

Scorers  –

 

 

Hat Trick Hopwood fires Shildon again

Under 10’s

Newton Aycliffe Juniors  0  3  SHILDON

Scorers  – Kane Hopwood (3)

Man of the Match – James Rusby

Shildon continued their good form this season with a convincing display against good opposition.  Starting brightly Shildon took the lead after 5mins when a good through ball by James Rusby saw Kane Hopwood thump a right foot shot in the top corner.  Continuous pressure saw Shildon double the lead after good approach work and a fine one two with Jacob Race, Kane Hopwood scored from close range.  With Shildon well in their stride they started to dominate and just before half time Hopwood completed his hat trick with a strong left foot shot just inside the penalty area. The 2nd half wasn’t as impressive but overall another squad performance from all Shildon players making an impact.

The 2nd hat trick of the day was by Ben Hopper in the friendly!

 

Under 11’s

SHILDON  1 3 Kirk Merrington

Scorer – LM Thompson

Man of the Match –

Under 16’s

Cargo Fleet  2  1  SHILDON

Scorers  – OM Rogers

Gary Forrest comments on FA Vase exit

In the wake of Shildon’s exit from the FA Vase on Saturday at the hands of West Auckland, who won by the game’s solitary goal, Shildon manager, Gary Forrest has released the following statement:

“I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all the people who turned up on Saturday and gave us such fantastic support, we could not have asked any more of you.

“If we are all honest it was a dreadful game in which both teams cancelled each other out, and it appeared like both teams were too frightened about losing to actually take the game by the scruff of the neck and go for the win.

“That was one of our poorest performances of the season. Of all the games in which to put in such a poor performance, we chose that one. After such a poor performance, I tend to sit and analyse the game and attempt to work out what we did wrong and what we could have done better. I genuinely cannot fathom out why we performed so badly and have come to the conclusion that it was just a really bad day at the office!

“I know the players are hurting today and feel that they let themselves and the supporters down, but we need to put this behind us and focus all our energy on challenging for the league title. Please don’t lose faith in us as we need to do this together.

“Over the last six years we have all worked really hard to build a fantastic football club with solid foundations. The club goes from strength to strength; we have a great supporters club, youth development set up, the best social marketing and the ground looks superb in comparison to six years ago.

“Unfortunately on the pitch the word ‘bridesmaid’ springs to mind. In those six years we have finished runners up in the league, 4th in the league, semi-finalists in the Vase, quarter-finalists in the Vase, league cup finalists, and lost 5 further semi finals.

“I would love to deliver silverware to the club as it appears to be the missing piece of the jigsaw. However, we will NEVER sacrifice our principals of playing attractive passing football. This season we have scored 61 league goals in 22 games and some of our football has been fantastic at times. Yes we take risks, yes we conspire to beat ourselves at times by attempting to play football on poor surfaces and in difficult conditions, but it is the way we believe a football team should play.

“So let’s put Saturday behind us and move on to another tough game at Crook on Friday night. If we manage to pick up three points on Friday we will extend our lead over Celtic Nation to seven points, Spennymoor to 9 points and West Auckland to 14, with both Spennymoor and West playing each other the following day.”