NORTHALLERTON TOWN 3 WILLINGTON 3
By Ricky Butler at the Calvert Stadium
Highlights of this match can be viewed here
A LAST gasp Daren Kokes equalizer earned Northallerton Town a point on Saturday in a thrilling match against old rivals Willington at the Calvert Stadium.
With the previous meeting between these two sides producing 7 goals, 3 red cards and national news coverage, this time the headlines were for all the right reasons - it was just a good old fashioned game of football.
Willington, who arrived at the Calvert Stadium on the back of a run of only 1 defeat from 10 matches, were seconds away from securing an impressive victory thanks to a first half header from Jason White and a second half brace from David Pinkney. But after Colin Anderson and Gav Parkin had struck for Town before the break, Kokes ensured the spoils were shared.
In fact Peter Mulcaster's side might even have snatched all three points at the death as Danny McLachlan beat the visitors offside trap, but with just goalkeeper David Moffatt to beat he elected to pass to Kokes instead of shooting himself and the chance was gone.
However, that dramatic finale was not enough to please a frustrated Town boss Mulcaster. He said: "I think it is two points dropped. A draw was a fair result I've got to say, but it is two clangers again for their 2nd and 3rd goals.
"We came back at the end and then had a great chance to put the game to bed, but we had no cutting edge today. We were sluggish and it has taken us going a goal down to wake us up.
"We talk about it in the changing room beforehand; the lads were saying lets get at it, but it just doesn't work, it doesn't happen, which I am disappointed in.
"Willington played well to be fair to them and they are a vastly improved side (from the last time we met) so a draw was probably a fair result in the end."
Mulcaster made three changes from last week's disappointing North Riding Senior Cup defeat at the hands of Redcar Athletic. Stephen Banks returned from injury at right back, while Graham Caygill replaced the absent Freddie Huscroft up front. Meanwhile, McLachlan started on the left side of midfield in place of Mikey Stevens, who dropped down to the bench.
But Willington, who had beaten Town 4-3 in the FA Vase back in September, started well and White had already fired over the top when he headed home at the near post following a left-wing corner from Adam Sakr to give the visitors a 16th minute lead.
However, the goal merely served as a wake up call for Town and they had turned the match around before the break. They were level in the 28th minute when Anderson was brought down on the edge of the area by Aiden Goodey and when Parkin's free kick came back off the wall, the Northallerton winger fired past Moffatt from 10 yards.
Parkin then scored the second himself just five minutes before the break - timing his run into the box to perfection to get on the end of Banks' long throw from the right and finishing with a volley from 18 yards. 'You're not singing anymore,' was the cry from the Town faithful behind the goal towards their opposite numbers from County Durham, although the visiting fans would find their voices again later.
Town took that improvement into the early stages of the second half and with Anderson causing mayhem down the right, they could have sealed the points. It was a ball fizzed across the six yard box by the winger that almost brought the cushion of a third goal, three minutes after the restart, while Anderson should then have scored after rounding Moffatt, but fired wide from a tight angle.
Then, from out of nowhere, Willington were gifted two goals in less than a minute, both scored by the dangerous Pinkney. After being put through by Liam Whitworth on the hour, the Willington midfielder's weak shot should have been kept out by Town goalkeeper Alex Kell but the ball bobbled agonisingly from his grasp and rolled over the line. But if that was bad enough, worse was to follow.
Straight from the restart, Pinkney, who nearly joined Town earlier in the season, tried his luck from fully 35 yards and the ball bounced in front of Kell, spinning into the far corner of the net. Now it was the Willington fans, who travelled in great numbers and helped to create a unique atmosphere, that were doing all the singing.
But credit to Kell who then kept Town in the match with two superb saves as Willington went for the jugular. First, the Town stopper was down quickly to his right to smother a shot by Whitworth from the edge of the penalty area before racing from his line to block from the same man moments later.
With potential disaster averted, Town regrouped and the stage was set for another dramatic finale between these two sides. Kokes thought he had equalized twelve minutes from time when his superb shot was met by save of equal quality from Moffatt, before Dale Elgie brought another fine stop from the Willington 'keeper as the clock ticked down towards the 90-minute mark.
But it was from the resulting corner that Town did grab the equalizer they deserved. Parkin's set-piece from the right was met with a towering header from Grant Hickman but when Moffatt could only push the ball up into the night sky, Kokes arrived to force it home from virtually right on the line.
Rather than settle for a point, however, Mulcaster's side came close to a winner in stoppage time. A swift counter-attack from a Willington corner saw McLachlan put clean through on goal but as Moffatt raced out to meet him, the Town man decided to square to Kokes rather than go for goal himself, perhaps the result of a lack of confidence, and the Willington 'keeper saved at his near post.
That would have perhaps been harsh on the visitors who certainly did not deserve to go back to County Durham empty-handed. But Mulcaster is more concerned that events off the pitch are conspiring against his team. He said: "We seem to have hit a brick wall in a lot of respects. We can't get on the training ground, we can't get any new faces in but over the next couple of weeks we will be working on these things."
Town now travel to improving South Shields on Tuesday evening in the Ernest Armstrong Cup looking to get back to winning ways in a competition where they have reached the last two finals. The next league game is a big one too, away at promotion rivals Seaham Red Star next Saturday.
TOWN - Kell, Banks, Porritt, Hickman, Shoulder, Elgie, Anderson, Parkin, Kokes, Caygill, McLachlan. SUBS - Stevens, Hemingway, Holliday, Colman, Aspinall.
WILLINGTON - Moffatt, Nicholson, Goodey, Lazonby, Howe, Weston, Whitworth, Seymour, Sakr, Pinkney, White. SUBS - Oldfield, Marshall, Cairns, Collinson, Comby.
REFEREE - R. Taylor
ATTENDANCE: 159 (49 from Willington)
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