One of the longest away trips of the season was the venue for Newcastle Benfield’s next game with Northallerton being the hosts.
Play was even for the first quarter of an hour, with only one real attacking occasion. It came in the 13th minute with a good move down the left wing by Benfield’s Cameron Gascoigne leaving him able to play in Connor Walker, who forced a deflected shot.
A minute later it was Benfield’s chance again to get the opening goal when a shot was deflected for a corner from which Eddie Thomas had a good opportunity to open the scoring with a free head at goal, but to his dismay he headed the ball high over the Northallerton cross bar.
22 minutes had gone by when a good three-man move involving Benfield’s Brad Varga, Connor Walker and Archie Leonard saw a dangerous cross to the Northallerton far post cleared away from danger by Northallerton’s Anthony Snook.
2 minutes later in the 24th minute the opening goal arrived, and it went the way of Northallerton. It was the first real attack the home team had but it was worth it. Northallerton won a free kick out on the Benfield left flank; it was driven into the near post to find the head of Charlie Graham with his header flying past Benfield goalkeeper Andrew Grainger to make the score 1-0 to Northallerton.
10 minutes more passed without anything of concern to either team until a good Benfield move saw Cameron Gascoigne play in Ben Dibbs-Fuller with his strong effort bringing a good save out of Northallerton keeper Sam Taylor.
38 minutes was the last time in the first half anything of note occurred. A strong run down the Northallerton left wing by Connor Walker saw his fine cross put a goalscoring opportunity on a plate for Cameron Gascoigne, but he put it wide of an open goal from six yards out. This left the score at 1-0 to Northallerton which was the halftime score.
Newcastle Benfield started the second half in a bright, quick fashion, with Benfield substitute Paul Brayson causing confusion to the Northallerton defence. An early shot from him failed to cause any problems to Northallerton’s goalkeeper Sam Taylor.
The 65th minute mark had arrived, with Northallerton defending well to concede a corner to Benfield. From the corner, captain Liam McNamara climbed high to head the ball past Northallerton ‘keeper Sam Taylor to make the scoreline level at 1-1.
The equaliser seemed to encourage Benfield and they seemed to be going flat out for the winner – it took a great save by Northallerton goalkeeper Sam Taylor to deny a 20-yard drive form Benfield’s Brad Varga. Only 5 minutes were left in the second half when Benfield were indebted to Lewis Leech who cleared off the Benfield line for a corner to deny Nathan Stevenson. From the ensuing corner, the ball fell to Northallerton’s Shaun Ryder who hit a low drive which was well saved by Benfield ‘keeper Andrew Grainger who was fouled in the process, giving Benfield a free kick.
3 added minutes passed when the substitute Luke Jones hit the best shot of the game in the 93rd minute, which was scrambled clear by the Benfield defence leaving the score at 1-1.This finished as the final score.
Man of the Match … Bradley Varga.