Morpeth Town will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to nine games on Saturday afternoon against a Newton Aycliffe side that is one of only two to defeat the Highwaymen so far in the 2015/16 season.
Town are heading into the game on the back of a last gasp FA Vase victory, Michael Chilton netting with three seconds remaining against West Didsbury & Chorlton last weekend.
Nick Gray has a full squad to choose from other than long term absentee Christopher Jewels and full-back Shaun Henderson. Morpeth will be looking to make amends for their FA Cup defeat to Aycliffe earlier in the season.
The Opposition
Newton Aycliffe have had an excellent season so far, sitting 8th in the Northern League table with a number of games in hand on the teams around them. If they won their games in hand they would move up to third in the table. Peter Dixon, the former West Auckland Town boss, and his team play a brand of football that has consistently got results. Since joining the club, Dixon has brought in a number of talented players including arguably the best strike force in the league in Mattie Moffat and John Campbell.
Outside of the league, Aycliffe had an excellent FA Cup run, defeating the Highwaymen before taking FA Trophy winners North Ferriby United to a replay. They have also reached the second round of the FA Vase and the second round of the League Cup, a competition they reached the final of last season.
Player to Watch
Mattie Moffat is a striker that needs no introduction to Northern League fans. He has been a prolific striker for a number of years at this level, and already has 10 goals in 17 appearances this term. Two of those goals came in the FA Cup win over Morpeth at the end of August.
Last Meeting
Morpeth Town were knocked out of the FA Cup at the Preliminary Round stage after a disappointing 2-0 defeat against Newton Aycliffe.
The Highwaymen never really got going in a scrappy game, with the home side netting one goal in each half to advance to the first qualifying round for the first time in their history.
Matty Moffat was the hero on the day, scoring both goals. The first came from a long ball by the home side, Moffat and Michael Hall going up for the challenge with the former West Auckland man winning the header before latching on to his rebound. He steadied himself before firing past Karly Dryden to make it 1-0.
The hosts doubled their lead in the second half, again Moffat doing the damage and he got in front of Chris Swailes at the back post to head home an excellent Aaron Brown cross.
Last Five Meetings:
29th August 2015 – FA Cup – Newton Aycliffe 2-0 Morpeth Town
21st March 2015 – ENLL – Newton Aycliffe 1-1 Morpeth Town – Taylor
25th October 2014 – ENL – Morpeth Town 1-4 Newton Aycliffe – Anderson
3rd November 2013 – ENL – Morpeth Town 2-1 Newton Aycliffe
21st August 2013 – ENL – Newton Aycliffe 1-1 Morpeth Town
