PRUDHOE YC SENIORS 3
ALNWICK TOWN 1
AFTER a disastrous start to the Ebac Northern League Division Two season in which they lost all 10 games in the space of five weeks and conceded 30 goals, Prudhoe YC Seniors bounced back in style with a morale-boosting and fully deserved 3-1 win against former Northern Alliance rivals Alnwick Town at Essity Park last Saturday.
The hosts fielded a new-look full-back combination of former Billingham Town player Sam Asigri and debutant Jensen Guthrie, who had been waiting for international clearance since arriving from Australia, while the visitors were forced to make seven changes to the side that had started against leaders Billingham Town the previous week due to a mixture of injuries, suspensions and unavailability.
There was a lack of goalmouth action at both ends in the early stages.
Alnwick Town's first corner on six minutes failed to test home keeper Thomas White and their next attack ended with skipper Evan Wilkinson sending a 30-yard rising drive over the bar, while Prudhoe's first chance came on 16 minutes after Guthrie, Luke Robinson-Crow and Reece Gilley had combined well down the left before Robinson-Crow's 20-yard strike was plucked out of the air under the bar by Michael Hogan who was deputising for Aaron Carr.
A quickly taken Alnwick free-kick on 20 minutes was wasted, and a follow-up attack culminated in centre forward Kyle Cockburn firing high and wide on what turned out to be a frustrating afternoon for their top-scorer.
Continuing to play with loads of energy all over the park and not giving their opponents much time on the ball, Prudhoe went in front on 22 minutes through winger Frazer Barker.
After picking up the ball from a throw on the right midway inside the Alnwick half, striker Jack Maughan drove forward and had time to turn before squaring to Barker who fired home into the bottom left corner giving Hogan no chance (1-0).
Another Alnwick free-kick on 26 minutes was wasted with an overhit delivery, but, soon after, they should have equalised after an attempted clearance rebounded into the path of former Prudhoe forward Thomas Wilson who fired low on the angle towards the back post and could only watch on as Cockburn slid in to divert his effort over the bar from the edge of the six-yard box.
There was again no end product from the next foray upfield when a cross into the box was laid back by Cockburn to Joe Malone who sent a low shot lacking power straight at White, and Cockburn then had a 20-yard effort blocked by Asigri as the home defence continued to put bodies on the line.
Prudhoe doubled the lead on 38 minutes through Barker who was on hand to finish off a well-worked move he had started on halfway.
After being fed down the left, Maughan advanced towards the outside of the box before linking up with Gilley who found Barker in a central position and his 20-yard left-footed strike flew over Hogan into the roof of the net (2-0).
From the re-start, experienced central defender Jonathan Swift, 40, was again in the right place in the box to cut out a dangerous cross with Malone on his shoulder waiting to pull the trigger.
More crosses into the Prudhoe penalty area from both flanks in the closing stages of the half were comfortably repelled with the visitors surprisingly lacking a cutting edge up front, and a bad afternoon for Lee Waugh's side got even worse just 20 seconds into the second half when they conceded again.
Hogan was closed down by Maughan as he tried to play the ball out of the box to substitute Liam Dalton and only succeeded in gifting possession to an unmarked Reece Gilley who coolly dispatched a first-time 20-yard effort into the roof of the net with Hogan a long way off his line (3-0).
Just two minutes later, a slick Alnwick counter-attack saw play switched quickly from left to right before Cockburn put one on a plate for Wilson, who must still be wondering how he managed to fire over from eight yards out.
Showing a bit more urgency than they had done before the break, the visitors then won two corners in as many minutes with the first one headed wide of White's left-hand post by an unmarked Lewis Heap.
Soon after the hour mark, a spell of Alnwick possession ended with another chance being spurned as Cockburn's 20-yard angled strike flew wide of White's right-hand post as the home stopper continued to enjoy a much quieter game than expected.
A recycled Alnwick corner on 76 minutes found its way to Cockburn who was unlucky to see his 25-yard piledriver crash against the bar, and another corner resulted in a couple of efforts being blocked in the six-yard box.
To round off a bad day at the office for Cockburn, he was sin-binned just thre minutes later.
Even though they had no chance of avoiding a third away defeat in a row, Alnwick kept battling away and pulled a goal back on 87 minutes through centre half Lewis Heap.
Set-piece specialist Ellis Swinburn's free-kick curled into the area from the right flank was met by Heap on the edge of the six-yard box, and his firm header found the bottom right corner of the net (3-1).
The last goalmouth action heading into four minutes of stoppage time saw a ball launched over the top drop kindly in the box for Alnwick substitute Michael Wright who lashed a shot against the outside of White's right-hand post.
Every member of Dean Walker's Prudhoe YC Seniors squad put in a shift and ran themselves into the ground, and for the first time this season they produced some clinical finishing.
A delighted Walker said: “We grafted and worked hard for 90 minutes, and it made a nice change to get our noses in front for once.
“Jensen had a great game at full-back on debut as did Sam who has settled well into his new role.
“Performances have been improving recently with a few games much closer than the final result.
“Hopefully this will kick-start our season and we’ve also got the added bonus of no more midweek games this year.”
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