Tom Clegg’s photos of Shildon’s home pre-season friendly against Scottish Juniors, Tayport FC. The game ended in a 2-2 draw which saw Shildon take the opportunity to blood some of their youngsters from the reserves, none of which looked out of place in the first team jersey. Toms photos can also be viewed on Flickr.
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Shildon have secured a late addition to their friendly schedule in the form of Scottish Premier League opposition.
Hamilton Academical FC will be the visitors to Dean Street next Saturday, 26th July in a special Community Friendly.
Instead of the usual entry fee, Shildon are opening the gates and asking the community to ‘pay what you can’ for this game.
A club spokesperson said: “If all you can afford is 50 pence, you will still be able to gain entry to this match against prestigious opposition. We would like as many people in the community as possible to come along to Dean Street and enjoy this match against a side playing at the very top level in Scotland. It is not often games like this come along and we would like as many people in the community as possible to have the opportunity to see this match.”
Hamilton Accies created a sensation in Scotland last season when they famously relegated Hibernian in an end of season playoff, consigning the Edinburgh club to the Scottish Championship alongside their city rivals Hearts.
Having lost the first leg of the match 0-2 at New Douglas Park, Hamilton travelled to Edinburgh and Easter Road with a monumental task ahead of them.
An early goal from Jason Scotland gave the visitors hope, but as the clock ran down, it looked like Hibs would survive. Then, in the last ten seconds of normal time, up popped Anthony Andreu to level the aggregate scores and take the match to extra time.
With no further score in the tie, the match went to penalties and it was Accies who prevailed, winning the shootout 4-3 to record one the most sensational results in modern Scottish football history.
Now Shildon will have the opportunity to play the Premier League new boys in what will be the sternest test of their pre-season schedule. Kick off at Dean Street is scheduled for 1pm and the club hopes that with a pay what you can entry fee, the community will turn out in numbers to support the Railwaymen.
Shildon unveiled their new home kit against Stranraer on Friday night in their third pre-season friendly of the new campaign. It was also their first match of the new season back at Dean Street and although they fell to a single goal two minutes from time, the Railwaymen can be hugely satisfied at matching the Scottish League One side for almost the entire game.
Indeed, the better chances were created by Shildon before the visitors took the lead. Lewis Graham produced an excellent save, stopping a driven shot low to his left side in the early moments of the game before ‘Bobby’ Moore poleaxed a Stranraer defender with a rocket from 25 yards.
After an even first half, Paul Connor could have opened the scoring at the beginning of the second, holding off a number of defenders superbly before skewing his show narrowly wide of the far post from a tight angle.
It was a game of few real chances as both sides cancelled each other out in a competitive midfield battle with the deadlock not being broken until two minutes from time. A well worked move set the Stranraer manager’s brother, Chris Aitken away and he made no mistake, stroking the ball past the onrushing Lewis Graham from the edge of the box.
As Shildon pressed forward in search of a last gasp equaliser, it was instead Lewis Graham who produced another wonder save at the other end as the visitors broke away to prevent an even more unfair scoreline.
Stranraer manager, Stephen Aitken was very complimentary of the Railwaymen’s performance, acknowledging that the side had improved and strengthened since the two met each other during last pre-season.
And certainly the lads can take plenty of confidence from their performances so far in pre-season and will not have had that dented last night, even if a draw would have been a fairer result.
Shildon team: Graham, Richardson, Harwood, Atkin, Craddock, Hudson (Hodgson), Moore, Rundle, Wood, Ruddy, Connor (Garvie).
Last night Shildon played their last home match of a wonderfully successful season. To date the side are second in the league and halve the best away record of any side. After the match, Archie MacKay spoke to Gary Forrest about the game, the season and the forthcoming Durham Challenge Cup final on Friday:
Gary Forrest and Ben Wood speak to Shildon AFC match programme editor, Archie MacKay after Wednesday night’s 1-0 Northern League Division One win over Dunston UTS at Dean Street:
Gary Forrest:
Ben Wood (with apologies for sound quality)
Tom Clegg’s photos from yesterday’s home draw against Morpeth Town are now available for viewing at Tom’s Flickr page:
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Shildon manager, Gary Forrest reflects on the Railwaymen’s home draw against Morpeth.
With all Shildon’s title rivals also dropping points, the Railwaymen were disappointed not to exploit an advantage. Gary expresses his frustration at the decision to allow play to go on in the lead up to Morpeth’s equaliser and at the condition of the Dean Street surface.
Shildon failed to take advantage of dropped points by all their title rivals when they too slipped up with a 1-1 draw against lowly Morpeth Town. So it’s as you were at the start of play at the top in the title race:
It’s a very special day for Shildon AFC Supporters Club tomorrow (15 March) as they welcome several local community groups to Shildon’s home Northern League match against Morpeth Town.
The Supporters Club launched the Shildon AFC Supporters Club Lotto, which is drawn weekly, at the beginning of the 2013-14 season. Since its introduction it has distributed over £3,000 in prize money and this week will be distributing its first grant funding to local community groups.
Shildon AFC Supporters Club Chairman, Russell Henderson said: “Tomorrow is a special day and we are delighted to be welcoming seven local community groups, who all successfully applied to our small grants fund, to Shildon’s home match, where they will collect their cheques.
“Putting money back into the local community is our top priority and this is the first time we are able to distribute money from the grant fund, although it won’t be the last. The lottery runs every week, all year round, and the more players there are, the more money we will be able to re-invest back into the local community.
“When new funds are available we will let the community know through local press outlets, but we hope to be able to announce an additional round of funding to coincide with each time the lottery jackpot is won.
“The fund is open to all small local groups and we are especially interested in helping groups who don’t have access to other means of funding such as the National Lottery. Anyone who runs a small group and needs funds for items such as equipment or to fund a group trip, for example, or any other reason is very welcome to apply. The maximum grant a group can apply for is £200 in one year. ”
At tomorrow’s match, the lottery will be distributing over £1,200 in total grant funding to the following local community groups:
Shildon Community Safety
Kay’s Hill Animal Sanctuary
Bishop Auckland Hospital Radio
Prince Bishops Primary School Community Garden
Shildon Community Garden
The Monday Club and
Jubilee Community Centre
The lottery manages a facebook page which contains full details of how to participate and includes a weekly draw announcement immediately after each draw. The page can be found by searching Facebook for Shildon AFC Supporters Lotto or by going directly to facebook.com/safcslotto.
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