The lads got their league season off and running against strong
physical opposition from Hexham. Cullercoats started the game better
and created a number of chances but their shooting was poor as Josh
and Steven struggled to get any power behind their shots when faced
with the away sides goalkeeper in 1-1 situations. Against the run of
play Hexham struck first when a long ball over the top allowed one of
their pacey forwards to nip in and score, the rest of the first half
was pretty even with both sides giving their all but it was Hexham who
struck again with a well finished strike to lead 2-0 at the break. We
felt this was not a disaster as the lads were always going to be under
pressure in the first half kicking uphill and they could make a
comeback in the second half. Ultimately it was not to be our day and
when Aidan struck the crossbar with a thumping header and Aaron's long
range strike just missed the far post it seemed we were not destined
to score today. Hexham killed the game off with a third goal with 10
mins on the clock before Aidan finally managed to break through after
some good work on the right from Steven. On the positive side there
were some good individual performances today particularly from Dan,
Charlie, Lewis and Tony and the lads played some good football in
spells but they seemed to struggle to adapt to the bigger pitch
against stronger opposition who are simply capable of clearing their
lines better at the moment. Man of the Match today was Tony who had
an excellent game in the first half as a stand in Right back and then
pulled off a couple of great saves in the second half.
Aidan
