FIXTURES:
Saturday 10th November: Shildon (A) 3pm
Wednesday 14th November: Norton (A) 7.30pm
Saturday 17th November: Team Northumbria (H) 3pm
Wednesday 21st November: Whitley Bay (H) 7.30pm
Saturday 24th November: Guisborough Town (A) 3pm
The battle of the Woods will take place this weekend as a rejuvenated Newton Aycliffe side make the short trip to Shildon.
The Newtonians claimed a much-needed and well-deserved three points with a big win at home to local rivals West Auckland at Moore Lane Park last Saturday, to haul themselves off the bottom of the Ebac Northern League first division for the first time in two months.
Allan Oliver’s side go to seventh-placed Shildon this Saturday (10th November) when they’ll hope to build on the win and climb out of the bottom-three drop-zone.
Mark Wood has returned to the Newton Aycliffe set-up recently like a phoenix from the flames to help bring about an upturn in morale.
Wood is the older brother of Ben Wood who starred in Aycliffe’s 2010-11 promotion-winning campaign and is now plying his trade with Shildon – so the fixture represents an interesting clash.
Wood Senior captained his hometown club to successive promotions, from the Durham Alliance League to the Wearside League and then to the Northern League in 2009, but his last game in an Aycliffe shirt – a 1-0 win at home to Sunderland RCA on Wednesday 14th April, 2010 – signalled the end of his fledgling Northern League career.
More than two years on, and Wood has returned to the Aycliffe fold – even after he thought he’d played his last game for the club – and is already back to playing an influential role.
“I’m loving it,” said the 23-year-old, who recently returned from a three-and-a-half-month spell working as a steel fixer in Bermuda.
“I lost a lot of weight while I was away, I was training and looking after myself, eating properly and not drinking as much!
“But after a couple of months I got homesick and couldn’t wait to get back home, as soon as I did all I wanted to do was to play for my town again.
“If I’m being honest, I never thought I’d play for the club again, but thanks to Allan (Oliver) and Gary (Farley) they let me get involved again and I’ve ended up playing, which is fantastic.”
Wood played a full 90 minutes in the 2-1 win over West last Saturday, and he added: “A lot of the team was made up of local lads off the town, and that is huge for us now.
“Fair play to Allan (Oliver), he had a go in the summer and made some high-profile signings, a couple of them didn’t work out and, for one reason or another, things just weren’t working out.
“But things have changed. Dan Mellanby’s influence has been absolutely massive, and can’t be underestimated. In fact, I reckon it’s the best appointment the club has made for a long, long time.
“The dressing room is really strong now, the atmosphere after the last game was immense, so we go upwards from here.”
Aycliffe’s trip to Shildon is followed by an away match at Norton next Wednesday, followed by a home game against Team Northumbria next Saturday.
