Aycliffe lost out to last season’s runners up Marske Utd in their first Northern League game of the season.  Goals from two of their former players denied Aycliffe the points on their trip to the seaside. Danny Earl & Jamie Owens were the scorers but it was Aycliffe who looked most likely to find the net in the early play. Ashley Coffey had two chances in the first five minutes. The first was an attempted lob over the keeper while the second was a 25yd shot which hit the crossbar. Dennis Knight tested the home defence throughout the first half & on 12 minutes saw a challenge on a defender rebound to Jordan Laidler. Unfortunately the shot went wide.
Marske responded with an attack which had to be cleared off the goal line. Aycliffe continued to press with Knight having a shot deflected wide. Coffey also caused problems & after the half hour put a cross over which left John Campbell with too tight an angle for an effective shot.
As halftime approached Aycliffe suffered a blow when Knight picked up a knock which led to his substitution for the second half. Within 2 minutes of the restart Earl broke the deadlock with a powerful shot which gave James Winter no chance in the Aycliffe goal. Seven minutes later Earl came close to his second but was denied by a diving save by Winter. However, it was fellow former Newtonian Owens who bagged the second a minute later with a delicate chip over Winter.
Aycliffe’s chances of pulling a goal back were further diminished shortly afterwards when Campbell went off injured. With ten minutes remaining Earl scored another, capitalising on a mistake in the Aycliffe defence.
For the second game in a row Aycliffe failed to follow up on a promising first half & will be disappointed to have conceded three goals in the second half. However, losing both Knight & Campbell to injury was always going to make it difficult.
Aycliffe now return to Moore Lane for a match against newly promoted South Shields who include former Sunderland star Julio Arca among their ranks. Aycliffe won the last encounter, in the Durham Challenge Cup semi final, on penalties. Kick off at Moore Lane is at 7:30pm on Tuesday 16 August. Jarrow Roofing are then the next visitors on Saturday 20 August, KO 3:00pm.