Arngrove Northern League Cup

20 February 2007

City bruised by Plastic muscle

by Ken Milgate

Durham City 0

Newcastle Benfield Bay Plastics 2

Laws 52

Bangura 70

City bowed out of possibly their last-ever League Cup with a typical Jekyll and Hyde performance: after dominating the first half but failing to convert territorial possession into goals, they succumbed to two right-wing crosses and close-range hits.

The opening five minutes set the scene for a half of slick passing football by both sides, making good use of the reliable fast surface.  City chased each and every ball and went close on 5minutes when Keith Graydon shimmied and shot wide in the penalty area.

The tempo and momentum of the game produced some bone-crunching tackles in high-octane commitment with City the more sinned against.

On 32minutes Graydon hit the post when he drove a Tommy English side-tap from a free-kick after the latter had seen any number of free-kicks in inviting positions fail to find the target or only the midriff of Andrew Grainger.

As the half wore on, the visitors registered two half chances, Karl Baston’s header at the back post and Christopher Laws’ left-foot curler being saved and flashing wide respectively.

It was the visitors who picked up the pace of the game the quicker in the second half and only a diving header by Leon Ryan denied the Ian Graham-Laws combination.

On 52minutes City went behind when Laws got in front of his marker to slip the ball past an unsighted Andrew Rafferty to capitalize on a Paul Buzzeo right-wing cross.

Seven minutes later only a fine double save by Grainger kept his side in front: a full-stretch diving save denied Steven Richardson and the resulting corner was played short by Graydon to English, but once again Grainger was equal to the effort.

The disappointment clearly affected City’s confidence and their game fell flat for the next ten minutes; the “pancake” reaction was dealt a punishing blow when the visitors doubled their lead with 20minutes to go when Alu Bangura scored to his obvious delight.

With a two-man bench offering no attacking options, City threw on both Kyle Anderson and Chris Copeland in hope rather then anticipation, but a change of result was beyond City by that time.

Durham City – Rafferty, Harrison, Walmsley (Anderson 77), Pitt, Bowes, Ryan, Price, Dodds,

                Richardson (Copeland 77), Graydon, English

Newcastle Benfield Bay Plastics – Grainger, Atkinson, Leighton, Bangura, Brown, Lumsden,

                Baston (Buzzeo 37), Bell, Laws (Dixon 80), Graham, Fuller

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS