Rothbury 2 Felling Magpies 1
Reeves Independent First Division
MATCH SPONSOR: TOWNFOOT STORE.
Rothbury midfielder James Jackson was left fuming after a late red card in the Coquetdaler’s first win.
The classy ball player bossed the middle of the park, made one and scored one as the Reds took the points in front of a large crowd.
But the former Alnwick Town ace insisted that if the technology available at the highest levels of the game were in use at the local level, he would have been vindicated.
“It was nothing, just a little coming together with about ten minutes left. A poor decision if I’m honest - if it went to VAR it would have been a no red,” he said.
Jackson set up youngster Hugh Dennis to net the opener on his debut in the 25th minute and admitted that gave him the most satisfaction.
“I’m happier with my assist than the goal I scored, and young Hugh owes me a few pints for that one like! I was very happy to get a goal as well, though, and felt good in the midfield three. I thought I could have had a couple more to be honest,” said the experienced senior man.
“The young ‘uns showed what they were made of last week after the Brucey Cup in the bar, and today Hugh got his goal but he can’t take throw-ins to save his life. All the young ‘uns have been mint and we will need them to be a main part of what we are doing this season. Young Josh Blakey will be great to get back into the fold when he returns from injury as well. But we can’t forget the old guard though, and it’ll be great to have Tony Brown and a few more faces back next week against a very good Prudhoe side.”
It was a much depleted Rothbury squad that showed up for the first home fixture following a heavy 5-0 mid-week defeat at Cramlington United in the season opener, with just 13 available for boss Danny Olson to select from.
Strangely enough, Rothbury’s final game before the Covid-19 outbreak ended last season was a 5-1 defeat at Northburn and the Red’s last League win was at Felling Magpies back in January when Gareth McCann hit a hat-trick in a 4-2 success. McCann was an expectant father until his son was born on Sunday and has been recently missing from the squad that had endured a run of nine consecutive defeats in competitive Alliance football stretching back to the turn of the year.
But the fact that the virus has caused so much disruption to the fixtures puts somewhat of a skew on those stats, and when Jackson fired in the second in the 59th minute there was a sense of relief all round.
“We’re buzzing with the win, especially after Wednesday night. The training has been amazing - we’ve just been making sloppy mistakes in games which have cost us so the win was much needed,” said Jackson.
After he made the long walk back to the dressing rooms the ten-man Reds dug-in but were given a bit of a scare when Thomas Burrell pulled one back for the Mags in stoppage time at the end.
Boss Olson said he was ‘absolutely over the moon with the response after having half the playing squad not available for one reason or another’ and was keen to heap special praise on the lads who represented the club in the fixture.
“I’m delighted with the 3 points and couldn’t be happier for Hugh getting his first senior goal in his first competitive senior appearance. Young Gareth Rickarby and Hugh are progressing and the other teenagers are too - we couldn’t be happier with the progression. We go to Prudhoe now in high spirits and hopefully we can kick on,” he said.
The Reds visit the early League leaders at Kimberley Park next Saturday (kick-off 2.30pm).
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