Rothbury 2 Whitley Bay SC 1
Northern Football Alliance Division One
If you stuck a David Beckham wig on Tony Brown, they’d give
him his own aftershave range.
Never mind the unfortunate initials – what’s that you’ve got
on tonight? Just a bit TB – Brown’s undisputed talent with a football is pure
glossy magazine. It’s Gucci, Valentino and Massimo Osti put together.
The midfield maestro produced two more moments of dead-ball
brilliance as the Reds extended their winning run to five games. Former Alnwick Town ace Brown bent in a free-kick direct
from an improbable angle in the first half, and crossed for Sam Proudlock to
head home number two in the second.
Although the Bay pulled one back late in the game, a
hard-working, well-organised display from Rothbury earned them three valuable
points.
“Tony was class to be fair. He makes us
tick - the technique he has on the ball just makes him a constant threat to be
honest and teams struggle to deal with him,” said boss Dan Herron.
But the gaffer was also chuffed with the
way his side dug in to get the win and the performance of the players in Red
shirts as a whole.
“I was really pleased at the organisation
and resilience we showed when put under pressure in the second half. I felt we
did well to limit them to very minimal chances and was disappointed to let the
clean sheet go in the last minute, but it’s a good 3 points on the board, especially
considering we were missing 6 or 7 who would be in contention to start,”
continued Herron.
Rothbury almost grabbed the opener in the
10th minute as Brown and Chris Coe combined to create a chance for
Al Laviers, who pulled his low shot just wide.
Debutant striker Darren Riddell went even
closer for the Coquetdalers soon after, and was inches from opening his account
in somewhat comical style.
The tall shaven-headed hit-man rolled an
uncontested drop-ball back to the Whitley keeper who was almost left red-faced
as it squirmed from his grasp and through his legs. He fell back to scramble it
off the line, though it may well have trickled over.
With the visitors pushing a high back-line,
Rothbury were finding it frustrating to get in behind without the offside flag
being raised. But James Jackson shielded the back-line
superbly and continued to knock the passes around with Brown also trying to
keep the play’s movement and momentum going.
Bay were punished for a handball in an
innocuous-looking position out wide on the right in the 35th minute.
Brown stepped up and curled a lovely effort high into the far top corner of the
net with his left foot.
Jackson almost added a second 3 minutes
into the second half as he stooped to head a Brown corner at the near post straight
at the keeper, and shortly after a looping mis-placed Bay defensive header came
back off a combination of the keeper’s hand and crossbar.
The visitors enjoyed a lot of possession in
an evenly contested affair but were mainly restricted to efforts from distance as the Red’s
defence – led by skipper and man-of-the-match Tom MacPherson – held firm. After
a couple had flashed wide or over, Dom McMahon dived to smother one or two more
while at the other end Brown’s whipped in corner was kneed away at the near
post by the stopper.
Rothbury extended their advantage in the 75th
minute when a defender clattered into the back of Brown in heading clear. The
midfielder picked himself up and floated in a delightful free kick for the
rising Proudlock to power in a downward header at the back post.
Bay’s tricky left winger Thomas Atkinson
kept Danny Lowes on his toes in the second half and the pacy wide man netted a
deserved consolation in the final minute when he didn’t give up on a blocked
shot in the box and drilled the rebound low into the corner inside the near
post.
“Five wins on the bounce is great for
confidence and I want them to keep building on that, we’re learning and
adapting every game to be fair,” said gaffer Herron.
“It was great of Daz to help us out when we
had so many missing and Gar (McCann) struggling with injury. Young Dylan (Handyside)
(Rothbury’s N’golo Kante) was tenacious in winning the ball back all afternoon,
and it was great to see the young talent holding their own when given the
chance. Chrissy Coe did really well out wide too.”
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