Sat. 29th Oct.2011 – Durham City 4ths v Morpeth 3rds
Score: 2-1, Scorers:- J. Macdonald, MOM:- J. Macdonald
Morpeth started slowly in this away fixture at Maiden Castle. A combination of inaccurate passing and poor control in possession gave the early initiative to a home side struggling for points during the first part of the season. The occasional spark of encouragement was evident and though the ball found its way into the Durham goal this was only after the whistle had been blown for a clear infringement. Short corners started to be won but a lack of clinical finishing meant that no advantage was gained. The city-based side pressed to create their own chances and managed to win a couple of penalty corners of their own. Again the defence held the upper hand and the danger was averted. A nil – nil scoreline was a fair scoreline at half time but it was clear that the Northumberland team had far more to offer should they start combining better within their attacking line-up.
A similar pattern emerged in the second period. However, slowly but surely Morpeth sought to gain the upper hand. More short corners failed to be dispatched and it was almost a point of surprise when Renwick fed Macdonald with the latter scoring from an acute angle five yards to the left of the goal. Eventually the away side appeared to have found an improved rhythm & flow and more passes were hitting their mark. This was not enough, though, to close out the game. Energetic play from the Durham captain resulted in confusion within the Morpeth defence and the cardinal sin of failing to play to the whistle was punished as Durham won a short corner that they converted for what appeared to be a fortuitous equaliser. Whilst the umpiring decisions continued to confuse & confound, worse was to follow two minutes later as a defensive error in failing to clear to the side presented City with a chance to take the most unlikely of leads and this they achieved with an assured finish past Slaughter.
With only a few minutes remaining a shell-shocked Morpeth were unable to respond and a game that had appeared won had been snatched from the travelling side’s grasp. The failure to take chances throughout was ruthlessly punished and lessons need to be learnt from this if a relegation scrap is to be avoided at the season’s end.
