Horden CW Women 1 v 1 NAYFC Women
The first half kicked off and, while Aycliffe started a bit sluggish, they quickly settled into a solid defensive shape. They weathered some early pressure, then came a moment of misfortune – Horden whipped in a corner and, after a bit of a mix-up, the ball was adjudged to have crossed the line, 1-0 down. Resilience is the word of the day. The ladies came back with determination, putting Horden under sustained pressure. Chances started to come their way and then a brilliant ball found Beth, who controlled it, driving past defenders to find herself one-on-one with the keeper. She took it around the keeper, but was taken down in the box – penalty! Annabelle stepped up with confidence and calmly slotted it home.
From there, Horden tried to regain control, but our defensive unit was absolutely rock-solid. Aycliffe stood tall, forcing Horden to shift the ball side-to-side, struggling to break through. On the few occasions they did find a way through, Courtney, in goal, was an absolute wall, catching every cross, shot and threat that came her way. The second half kicked off with even more intensity. Horden ramped up the pressure, however, the team’s hard work on shape and positioning paid off big time, frustrating Horden as they couldn’t find a way to break Aycliffe down. With just minutes left on the clock, we had a few half-chances to snatch the win, but couldn’t quite find the killer ball. At the other end, Horden found themselves one-on-one with Courtney, but she came out fast, making a huge block to deny them. Final whistle, 1-1. Player of the Match was unanimously awarded to Courtney Wilson, and deservedly so. She made critical saves, stayed composed under pressure and showed why she’s a key player for Aycliffe.
Newton Aycliffe Youth Seniors 3 v 2 Coxhoe
From the start, Aycliffe were on top. The first goal came from their CB receiving the ball, we closed down and nicked the ball back, with Kez finding Niall who rounded the keeper to give us the lead. Coxhoe were getting the better of our back four, due to their sheer size, but Aycliffe were getting bodies in the way of any attempts at goal. Then Aycliffe failed to deal with a corner and their striker tapped in to equalise. The lads stuck to the game plan to press high, resulting in us winning the ball back, seeing Kez, again, beat his man and this time squaring to Jordan Wintersgill coming from deep to find the bottom corner. HT 2-1. Early in the 2nd half Aycliffe won a corner which Jordan put into a great area and Kieran Maughan got above his man to head home. We knew what was going to come and at every opportunity Coxhoe would launch the ball into our box. One of which, even though the striker looked off side, they got in behind to make the game 3-2. Ten minutes plus added time left to go, it was now about keeping control of the ball. The Ref somehow found an extra 10 minutes of added time, however, we held on to secure our first league win of the season.
A couple of mentions, Cole Gasgarth, another who has stepped up this season from the under 18’s and was asked to fill in at RB ,which he dealt with very well. Danny Phillips was given his first start in CM after impressing in training and showed signs of what we think he can offer moving forward.
MOM could have gone to a number of players, but Kieran Maughan earned it with a goal and two assists.