Northern Alliance League
Premier Division
Friday 17th January 2025
Kick Off 19.30 On Time!
A.F.C. Newbiggin 3 Wallington 2, attendance 170
55’ 1-0
61’ 2-0
62’ 2-1
64’ 2-2
90’ + 5, 3-2
@Newbiggin Sports & Community Hub
Woodhorn Road
Newbiggin-By-the-Sea
NE64 6HG
£3 Admission
£1 Programme, 12 pages.
It was a six hour drive up to the North East, for what was hopefully going to be the first of a four game weekend. The weather forecast was favourable for once and a phone call to the home club secretary just before 14.30 (leaving me time for a re-visit to Harrogate Town if the news wasn’t good) confirmed the game was going ahead okay. According to the Met Office, we would only just hit freezing tonight and that wasn’t until the game would be finished anyway. I certainly got a shock as I turned off the main road to head into Newbiggin, around an hour before kick off, where I met a gritting lorry salting the road…it was 8 degrees on the car temperature gauge! Good news though, as the floodlights were on and players were arriving and soon began their warm ups.
Newbiggin have aspirations to make the step up to the Northern League, with the ground currently being brought up to meet Step 6 grading. It obviously already has floodlights and a couple of seated kit stands are situated on the opposite side from the dugouts. At the moment there is minimal hard standing, but that is probably the easiest of jobs to complete. The changing rooms are set back behind the entrance goal end, inside the hub building, with admission money taken from a pay box that doubles as a tea/snack bar, where match day programmes are also available.
The match was 3rd versus 2nd (Wallington are the reigning champions), both clubs trailing unbeaten league leaders Burradon & New Fordley by seven points, with Wallington having two games in hand on the other two, so still all to play for, although It was a game that Newbiggin really needed to win if they were to remain in with a real shout of the title. It was a dull first half, with both defences on top. Wallington did get the ball in the net after seventeen minutes, but it was ruled out for offside and it remained goalless at halftime. The second half was the complete opposite of the first. End to end stuff, with both teams creating chances at will. Newbiggin broke the deadlock ten minutes after the break, firing low into the bottom corner. It sparked a mad ten minutes, where Newbiggin had a goal disallowed, then made it 2-0, poking in a corner at the near post, before two goals in three minutes saw Wallington level it up at 2-2. Neither side were settling for the draw and it was good to see none of the usual time wasting tactics that can often blight games. We finally got a winner five minutes into stoppage time, when a cross from the right was headed back across the six yard box and nodded in from close range to give Newbiggin all three points. Excellent start to the weekend and it looks like I dodged a bullet with the weather, as fellow top division side Cramlington United, just 8 miles south of Newbiggin, was postponed due to a frozen pitch.
