Newton Aycliffe achieved the greatest result in their 50 year history by winning the Durham Challenge Cup on Good Friday. The Challenge Cup is the premier competition in the county & has been in existence since 1884.
Newton Aycliffe will now be engraved on the magnificent trophy for the first time & is a fitting reward for the club’s efforts this year. Their previous best was a semi final defeat in 1969.
There was drama even before the teams got to the Hetton Centre for the final. Just four days before the big game it was discovered that Whickham had played an ineligible player in three previous rounds.
They were removed from the competition & beaten semi finalists West Auckland were reinstated.
The 11:00am kick off was an early start for the fans but 604 turned out on a glorious Easter morning to watch an entertaining match.
Aycliffe dominated the game but it was West Auckland who took the lead after just four mins. The defence failed to deal with a ball into the box & Darren Richardson took advantage firing past James Winter in the Aycliffe goal. There was a further blow for the blues after 18 mins when Ashley Coffey limped off with an ankle injury.
Throughout the first half Aycliffe had several chances to equalise but couldn’t get the ball in the net. Zak Boagey, John Campbell & Matty Moffat all came close. Moffat almost scored on 35 mins but his effort hit the crossbar & with no one able to follow in West escaped & made it to half time 1-0 up.
Aycliffe started the second half strongly. A corner on 48mins found Stuart Banks whose header went wide of the post. Five minutes later skipper Paul Garthwaite’s low shot was saved by West keeper David Knight who was immediately called back into action to save from Moffat.
The pressure paid off & after 54 minutes Aycliffe equalised thanks to a powerful shot from Campbell which gave the keeper no chance.
Aycliffe continued to press for the remainder of the second half but West held out & took the game to extra time.
Extra time continued with Aycliffe again on the attack. Within 3 mins they took the lead. A free kick just outside the penalty area gave Dennis Knight an opportunity. As has been the case many times this season his kick evaded the wall & the keeper’s dive on its way into the net. Aycliffe’s third came after 96 mins. Garthwaite scored a great solo effort surging through the defence & finishing with a fine low shot from the left.
West Auckland couldn’t respond & Aycliffe took a deserved 3-1 win.
The Aycliffe players & management under Peter Dixon’s leadership thoroughly deserved their victory & the enthusiastic celebrations which followed the trophy presentation showed how much the win meant
to everyone connected with the club. In a very nice gesture captain
Paul Garthwaite gave his medal away to devoted supporter Martin Hughes, saying later on Twitter ‘Top man is Martin. Deserves the medal more than me.’
With 13 league games still to play Aycliffe now move on to 6 consecutive home fixtures, starting with West Allotment Celtic visiting on Tuesday 29 March (ko 7:45) followed by FA Vase finalists Morpeth Town on Saturday 2 April (kick off 3:00pm).
