Newcastle Benfield (Away): NL Division 1: Wednesday 24th Aug 2011

Result: Newcastle Benfield 3 Marske United 0     Scorer: -

Without Adam Wheatley, Mark Taylor, Anthony Ormerod, Benn Thompson and Danny Brunskill, Marske were forced to field a somewhat patched together side as they travelled to league leaders Newcastle Benfield.

In a fairly even start to the match, the best chances fell to Benfield’s Michael Chilton and Marske’s Steve Cochrane within a couple of minutes of each other.  On 16 minutes Chilton beat the offside from a non-existent back four to race through from just inside the Marske half and get to the corner of the six-yard box with just Jonathan McDonald to beat.  With fellow front man Andrew Hirst square of him, he could have passed to produce a certain goal, but instead opted to shoot himself and was denied by a fine block from the visiting keeper.

Then soon afterwards, Karl Charlton combined well with Dom Gamble on the left hand side to cross into the box.  The ball was met towards the far post by Cochrane but his shanked his volley wide of the goal from 10 yards out.

The game developed into a midfield tussle with only a couple of half chances created by Marske for Charlton and Craig Skelton, before Jonathan Mann again broke through for Benfield, but poked a shot wide having been put under pressure by John Seaton.

With both defences coping well, the game looked to be heading into the interval goalless, until the hosts scored with the final touch of the half.  Benfield won a free kick just inside the Marske half which was swung into the box by Brian Dodsworth.  Chilton got up well to send a powerful header into the back of the net from the centre of the penalty area. 

Half-time:  Newcastle Benfield 1 v 0 Marske United

The home side controlled the second half throughout, as the difference in fitness levels between the two sides was a telling factor.

Minutes in, Chilton fired a warning shot just wide of the post, and minutes later McDonald collected a dangerous cross well.

Mann worked his way forward and into the box on 55 minutes, but his effort was bravely blocked by Gamble.

Benfield somehow got nothing out of a great move on 65 minutes when a Marske free kick into Benfield box was quickly played out to Hirst on the half way line.  The pacey forward tricked his way past three defenders and managed to make his way all the way to inside the Marske penalty area where his was barged over by Seaton, the referee waving play on.

Two minutes later the bombardment continued as Mann launched a shot from 25 yards that hit the top of the crossbar, then shortly after that Lee Donachie made a brilliant block inside the box to deny Kevin Leighton a certain goal.

Marske responded by replacing Adam Gell with Rob Jones, but the substitute didn’t last long after being scythed down by Mark Turbull.  The referee failed to blow for a foul and played on for nearly a minute as the forward laid on the ground in agony.  When the ball finally got kicked out of play, Marske manager Paul Burton was sent off for the second game running for protesting to the referee, and after being helped from the field, Jones was replaced by Derek Bradley.

The home side finally made the game safe on 75 minutes when Dodsworth peeled away, leaving his marker for dead on the left flank and crossed to the far post where Mann slotted the ball home from a tight angle.

Marske went to pieces for the final ten minutes as Benfield could easily have added another three or four goals to their tally.  Near misses and poor finishing looked to keep the score at 2-0, but in time added on they did manage a third goal.

Half the Marske defence had their backs to the ball and weren’t even watching when a quickly taken free kick from the right was met near the far post by Phil Lumsden who volleyed home uninterrupted.

Full-time:  Newcastle Benfield 3 v 0 Marske United

Marske’s first defeat of the season came at a canter for Benfield in the second half.  After matching their opponents in the first half, Marske will no doubt have to work on their fitness levels after being put to the sword after the interval.

Teams:

Newcastle Benfield:  Grainger, Turnbull, Patterson, Antony, Leighton, Lumsden, Mann, Bell, Hirst (Feasey), Chilton, Dodsworth.  Not Used:  Boyle, Kane, Fenwick, Buzzeo.

Marske United:  McDonald, Seaton, Gamble, J.Burton, Donachie, Roberts, Gell (Jones)(Bradley), Cochrane (Robson), Skelton, McGill, Charlton.

Not Used:  Brunskill.