Town up to eighth spot with Thornaby win

FOLLOWING their 3-2 Ernest Armstrong Cup defeat at Thornaby in mid-week, Northallerton Town returned to Teesdale Park on Saturday to take on the same opponents in the skilltraining Northern League Division Two, and came away with a superb 2- 1 victory which lifts them to eighth place in the league.

In the cup game Town were left feeling very unhappy about the manner of the quarter-final defeat as a controversial penalty, deep into stoppage time, ended their hopes.

Thornaby took the lead midway through the first half when a long clearance from their keeper was poorly defended, resulting in Daniel Corbett giving them the lead.

Town struggled to put together any attacking threat, but Thornaby were moving the ball well and they created four clearcut chances, one was cleared off the line by Grant Hickman, and keeper Alex Kell produced three great saves to keep his side in the game..

Thornaby made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute when Corbett added his second when he headed home following a corner.

The home side now looked well in control but the introduction of substitute Christian Holliday for the injured Craig Winter in the 63rd minute sparked Town into life.

He pulled a goal back with his first touch in the 65th minute when he forced the ball home from close range. And it got better for Town as they got the equaliser in the 78th minute when Martin Butterworth rifled the ball home from the edge of the area which gave ex-Town keeper Paddy Pisani no chance.

The game was there for the taking, however, in the 88th minute, a poor defensive header fell short of keeper Kell and when the ball hit his hand outside the area, the referee had no option but to show Town’s man of the match a red card, Grant Hickman taking over in goal.

A controversial penalty decision five minutes into stoppage time ended Town’s hopes when, following a clash of heads well outside the area, the referee stopped the game to allow treatment to the players and following a lengthy delay, he surprised everyone in the ground and angered the Town officials when he awarded Thornaby a penalty which was converted by Adam Livingstone to give them a 3-2 victory.

After battling back from 2-0 down to 2-2, the manner of the winning goal was hard to take but Town were second best for the first 65 minutes and Thornaby deserve their place in the semi-final.

On Saturday Thornaby started out the better side but Town quickly got to grips with the tactics which had worked well in the cup encounter and they took the lead through Danny Chapman, who fired home following some poor defending by the home side.

Thornaby came back strongly and they carved out several good chances before they pulled level in the 40th minute when Danny Corbett charged down a poor first touch from the Town’s keeper’s attempted clearance and duly slotted home from 12-yards In the second half, Town took control, creating a number of clear cut chances through Chillingsworth, Butterworth and Allison which were all wasted, but Stephen Allison did find the back of the net midway through the half to restore Town’s lead.

Thornaby came back strongly in the closing stages and, with just seconds to go, they were given a great chance of restoring parity when Paul Gibson was brought down in the area, but Adam Livingstone, who was the midweek cup hero, stepped up and blasted the resulting penalty kick wide of the post Town are at home tomorrow when they entertain Whickham and, on Wednesday, a large crowd is expected at the Regency Stadium when they take on York City in the semi-final of the North Riding Senior Cup, kick-off 7.30pm.