26/11/2023
By Chris Gibbs
Home form hoodoo is broken
Newcastle Town 1 - Cockerline (8)
Vauxhall Motors 0
Well, we really needed that. Let’s face it, our home form this season has been ropey at best and a narrow win secured through a classy side foot finish after 8 minutes from Dan Cockerline has given everyone a lift.
It was hard work though as Vauxhall Motors came with a clear plan to get down the sides and get quality balls into the box. They caused us plenty of problems especially in the first half and we had to call upon the big man Slinny between the sticks to save the day with a couple of one-on-one savesinside the first 20 minutes.
With Kyle Stubbs serving a one match suspension and entertaining us all with his maverick Twitter updates for the day, Roman Allen came in at centre half to partner Josh Jordan and the pair linked up well.
Having got through to half time with our lead intact thanks to the big fella’s sixth league goal of the season, Slinny then had to pull off another fine save just two minutes after the restart. The Motormen’s skipper Ben Holmes, who had been denied twice in the first half, was foiled again by a strong parry from our in-form ‘keeper.
Having weathered the storm at the start of the second half, we got control of the game back and while not creating as many opportunities as we have in other recent home games, we started to look more solid.
The Motormen made life even more difficult for themselves ten minutes from time when substitute Lewis Buckley was given his marching orders for a late tackle on Callum Speed,but that wasn’t the end of the drama. Jack Van der Laan played a perfect through ball to Kingsley Adu Gyamfi who hit the post as we looked to seal the win four minutes from time.
However, Joe Berks became the second substitute to see red for raising his hands and hitting out at the Motormen’s full back Bobby Beaumont in the last minute. That was the prelude to seven minutes of injury time, which kept the nerve ends jangling. But we just about hung on to our lead and move up to 11th in the table. Top of the table Prescot Cables are next.
Team: Slinn, Derbyshire, Ritchie, T. Van der Laan, Jordan, Allen, Adu Gyamfi, (Graham), J. Van der Laan, Cockerline, Edwards, Speed (Berks)
Man of the match: Joe Slinn