Football round-up
Barnard Castle FC v
Birtley Town Development
BARNEY’S positive run of form was halted by a well drilled and organised Birtley side, as the Gateshead based outfit leave the Tens Field with a 2-0 victory and three points.
After winning their previous two games, Barney will have been confident heading into the match but they were unable to play their flowing and passing style of football.
After starting brightly, the hosts suffered a setback when James Boyle opened the scoring for Birtley mid-way through the first half with a low shot past keeper Ollie Wilkinson’s right-hand side.
Heading into half time the game had been a tight affair with strikers on both sides feeding on scraps.
With the rain pouring and the crowd consuming hot drinks to keep warm, the football went cold for Barney on the pitch.
After a strong start to the second half, the football then began to get frantic, and Barney seemed to panic, reverting to a more direct form of the game with hopeful long balls being dealt with by the Birtley defence.
The visitors doubled the scoreline on 75 minutes with a break down the left-hand side that was converted by Callum Colquhoun.
In truth, Barney were limited to half chances and Birtley came away as rightful winners. It shows the strength of this league and there is no week when the standard can drop at all, or you’ll be punished.
Barney are away in the County Cup next week to FC Hartlepool Reserves.
After last year’s semi-final in this competition, they will be looking for another strong campaign.
Sam Alexander
West Auckland Town FC
IT was a mixed week for West in the Ebac Northern League first division with a hard fought midweek home win against Redcar Athletic but a disappointing reverse on the road at West Allotment Celtic on Saturday.
On Tuesday, West went behind early on against Redcar and the hosts had keeper Nick Liversedge to thank for keeping them in the game until Will Constantin pulled his side level shortly before half time when he headed home Wayne Whitfield’s free kick.
Whitfield was again the provider when West took the lead through Josh Scott.
Redcar had the chance to equalise when they were awarded a penalty but the kick was fired over the bar.
Despite having a man sent off, Redcar were later awarded a second penalty, which was saved by Liversedge and West came away with the 2-1 win and three points.
West drew blank on Saturday, finding themselves on the wrong end of a 4-0 drubbing at West Allotment Celtic.
West were one down at the interval and two goals in three minutes shortly after the restart sealed the win for the hosts, who added a fourth in the 81st minute.
Darlington Sunday Morning Invitation League
A MONTH into the season, league officials have decided to restructure the league into a single 18-team division instead of the two tiers they began with.
Each team will play the other once, with games already played counting.
At the end of the 17-game season, the top nine teams will form division one with the remaining nine making up the second tier.
On the field, Staindrop Wheatsheaf got their first points on the board against Darlington Woollen Mill.
Wheatsheaf were 4-0 up at the interval thanks to Aaron Reed’s brace and goals from Jonny Robinson and Ollie Ross.
Woollen Mill fought back with two goals after the break but Staindrop comfortably held on for th 4-2 win.
Gainford Cross Keys were back to winning ways with a 3-2 victory against Shuttle and Loom.
Cameron Gilbey scored twice with Jamie Catterick adding the third.
Stuart Laundy
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
