EBAC Northern League Division One

Morpeth Town 3-0 Bishop Auckland

(Daniel Taggart, Jordan Fry 2)


By Stuart Dick (Morpeth Town Media Manager)

Morpeth Town opened their season with a comprehensive 3-0 defeat of Bishop Auckland at Craik Park on Saturday afternoon.

Daniel Taggart opened the scoring after 21 minutes with a left foot thunderbolt, before Jordan Fry netted once in each half to secure the three points for the Highwaymen.

Bishop’s created the first opportunity of the game in the 2nd minute, Adam Nicholls picked up the ball on the left side of midfield, playing striker Andrew Johnson in down the left wing. Johnson cut inside on his right foot and into the penalty area but his effort was saved by Karl Dryden at his near post.

Morpeth also showed their intent in the first 5 minutes, Lee McAndrew picking out Keith Graydon on the edge of the area, who hit a vicious right footed strike wide of Mark Bell’s left upright.

Graydon tried his luck again on the quarter hour mark as he attempted a long range volley from the edge of the area, again his effort went narrowly wide.

The frantic opening to the game continued at the other end as winger Glen Lane broke down the right wing for the Two Blues, cutting onto his left foot before hitting a 25 yard effort wide of goal.

A stunning team move from the Highwaymen culminated in another chance for the home side, Keith Graydon found Sean Taylor on the left after some good work by Luke Carr and Dan Taggart. Taylor took the ball goal wards before playing a one-two with Lee McAndrew who lofted the ball over the defence for Taylor to fire a volley wide.

Two minutes late Morpeth took the lead through striker Taggart. Another long winded move saw Taylor with the ball on the right, he found Graydon infield who in turn found Jordan Fry. Fry slid the ball to Carr whose one touch pass found Taggart 20 yards out who hit a thunderous left footed strike into the left hand corner of Bell’s goal.

Within five minutes Bishop Auckland thought they’d equalised, but a goalmouth scramble protected the Highwaymen’s 1-0 lead, first Ian Ward, then Arjun Purewell and finally Graham Irving all denied by the sturdy Morpeth defence.

Morpeth then took control of the game and had a number of chances to double their lead. James Novak’s cross field ball to Taylor was volleyed over by the forward before a McAndrew run down the left wing led to a curled right footed shot going wide of the post.

The lead was finally extended in the 36th minute, a quick Graydon free-kick from the centre circle found McAndrew on the left, he cut the ball back to Novak who fizzed a low cross through the penalty area which Fry ran onto and finished past Bell.

The game settled down in the second half, with only a handful of chances for either side. The visitors did go close to reducing the deficit early on in the second period, Stuart Thompson picking up the ball in his own half and making a powerful run up the centre of the field before finding Ward who hit a power right footed effort off the outside of the right hand upright from 20 yards out.

Another free-flowing move led to Morpeth’s third. Stephen Forster, Keith Graydon, Sean Taylor and Jordan Fry combined down the right wing to play in Taylor behind the Bishop Auckland backline, he held the ball up before finding an onrushing Fry at the edge of the area who curled a first time right footed effort into the top left hand corner, an exceptional finish from the midfielder.

The last chance of the game fell to Steven Anderson as he broke the offside trap and rushed goal wards, but his right footed effort was always curling away from goal.

A solid start to the season for Morpeth Town, and they go again on Tuesday away to newly promoted Washington away from home.