Match Preview: Newton Aycliffe (Away)

Northern League Division One

Saturday 25th February 2012: Kick Off 3.00pm

On Saturday we make the journey to Moor Lane Park to play the return league game against Newton Aycliffe hoping to complete the double after our 3 – 1 win at home back in October.

The club was formed in 1965 and in the early days played its football in the Darlington & District league. Their stay in this league proved to be very successful and they won several league titles and cup competitions. However, in 1984 the decision was made to move up to a higher level of football so an application to join the Wearside League was submitted. After being accepted as a member they soon adapted to this standard and regularly finished in a mid-table position. Unfortunately the club fell on hard times and in 1994 resigned from the league mid-season after failing to win any of their first twenty games.

A spell in the Durham Alliance league then followed which the reformed club joined in 2007 and in the very first year they had a magnificent season which saw them win the title convincingly as well as four cup competitions. The club seemed to be on the up again and were able to upgrade the ground and facilities courtesy of a three hundred thousand pound grant from Sedgefield Council. They also received twenty thousand pounds from the Football Foundation towards new floodlighting which would enable the club to meet the necessary criteria to progress further up the football pyramid. As a result of these improvements the club was accepted back into the Wearside League for the 2008/09 season.

However their stay was short lived because after a long hard season they were crowned champions at the first attempt which meant they became eligible for promotion to the Northern League. After sailing through all the relevant checks and ground inspections they were granted a place in the Northern League Second Division for the start of the 2009/10 season. They quickly adapted to this higher standard of football and finished in a creditable ninth position in their first season. These successes over the last two seasons resulted in a dramatic increase in attendances for home games and they regularly played in front of crowds of over two hundred. Several new additions were added to the to the squad prior to last season which included local lad and prolific goalscorer Warren Byrne who joined the club from first division side Shildon.

The gamble certainly paid off because they took the division  by storm and were never headed before clinching the league title with three games still left to play. Warren Byrne led the way and finished as top scorer in the league with 44 goals.

Although they completed the double over us we actually had two good games against them but lost at home 2 – 0 through two disputed goals and were unlucky to be beaten  2 – 1 in the return game with the winning goal coming in stoppage time.

They started this season really well despite Byrne deciding to move back to Shildon. However, manager Allan Oliver recently persuaded him to return to the club, to replace  striker Elliot Gardiner who moved to West Auckland, and he was soon back on the score sheet helping them climb to their current fifth spot in the table.

We have now lost five of our last six games and desperately need to get back to the form that produced the ten game unbeaten run prior to that.

This is another game when Burto and the players really need your support so get yourself along to Aycliffe and help cheer them on to victory ( keep the faith )

For those supporters intending to travel to the game the address of their ground is as follows :

Moor Lane Park, Newton Aycliffe Sports Club,

Moor Lane, Newton Aycliffe, Co. Durham DL5 5AG

(33miles)