Match Report | Redcar Athletic (A)
Tuesday night saw Town travel to the coast to face Redcar Athletic looking to get an all-important win.
First-Half
Just prior to kick-off we had a splattering of rain with high winds and conditions that looked stormy at best on the horizon.
The early encounters reflected this with through balls going astray for both sides and chances coming at a premium. Town did however start making in-roads and began passing the ball around and at times played excellent attacking football - resulting in a few half chances and long-range efforts with Bulmer in goal for Redcar being equal to.
John Howard was particularly troublesome down the right for Town, with Parker and Stephenson also industrious in the centre. However, there were signs that Town would have to be careful around the half-hour mark.
Isaac Walker playing out on the left beat his man in Tommy Marron and crossed in for Sonny Coleman but his sliding effort sailed over the bar. A carbon copy of this earlier chance resulted in the game's opening goal minutes later.
Walker again got space to whip in a cross and Sonny Coleman was on hand to finish off the move to leave Town trailing despite being the better side.
Town tried to find an equaliser before the break but again were restricted to mainly long-range efforts courtesy this time from Stephenson and Ryder. The best chance came on the stroke of half-time with John Howard winning a corner after his acrobatic effort was cleared behind, the resulting corner caused a goalmouth scramble with Jacob Bulmer somehow preventing the ball from crossing the line and leaving Redcar with the lead at the break.
HT - Redcar Athletic 1 - 0 Northallerton Town
Second-Half
Half-time saw Town make a change with Kyle Lancaster being replaced by Joe Spalding and it was the latter who Town a corner minutes into the second period. The corner was duly taken by Stephenson who saw his cross turned in by Dan Jones to bring Town back level with only 4 minutes played.
Town picked up where they left off and began to try and take hold of the game and go for the win. Another goalmouth scramble ensued following another corner and once more it left those of a Town persuasion scratching their heads at how it wasn't buried for a second goal.
However, as has been a custom of Town's season so far they'd become their own worst enemy. After the referee had awarded a free-kick to Redcar, Town didn't react quickly enough to prevent the set-piece being taken quickly and the troublesome Isaac Walker was again played in down the left and crossed towards the back post where Alfie Conway was waiting and his deflected effort found it's way past Taylor into the back of the net.
To make matters worse, Town were to concede a penalty 10 minutes later, a loose ball from substitute Sean Chidanyika was intercepted and allowed Isaac Walker to race through on goal and was adjudged to have been taken down by Taylor. Jordan Rivis stepped up but saw his effort brilliantly saved by Taylor.
Town would go on to have the better of the closing exchanges and would be left wondering how they didn't score. Joe Spalding played through John Howard whose effort struck the post before Bulmer deflected Matty Water's rebound wide.
Dan Jones had the last chance, and perhaps the best chance of the game for Town. Played clean through following a flick-on from Waters, Jones could only fire at Bulmer who again made a good stop, and with that Town's chance of an equaliser was gone.
FT - Redcar Athletic 2 - 1 Northallerton Town