Full time score Pickering Town FC 3-2 Thornaby FC North Riding senior cup round one Att:131

Thornaby made the hour and ten minute journey to Northern Counties Premier Division team Pickering Town who are in midtable for this North Riding Cup match. It was the hosts who started the match the brightest when they took the lead with 7 inutes when Steven Baxter played in Liam Salt tapped home to make it 1-0 to Pickering and the pikes almost made it 2-0 when Tom Reid hit a shot which Paul Hubbard just about saved and after that spell the visitors started to settle into the game and on 23 minutes the visitors then levelled after Karl Lilley was fouled about 20 yards out from goal and Rocky Andrews took the free kick which went all the way for his third goal in two games. The visitors then had the next chance when Gary Mitchell hit a shot from 8 yards out which took a slight deflection and Arran Ried in the Pikes goal made a great save. Pickering then retook the lead against the run of play when Steven Baxter and Dean Craig exchanged passes on the edge of the box and Baxter fired past Hubbard in the Teessiders goal with 34 minutes gone and just a few minutes later Pickering looked to seal there passage into the next round when Steve Baxter hit a shot which Simon Sturdy was unmarked in the box and tapped home.

Half Time Pickering Town 3-1 Thornaby FC

The visitors came out of the changing rooms looking to get back into the match and it was indeeed the visitors who had the first chance in the second half when Robert Keenan hit a shot which deflected off a Pickering defender for a corner just a few minutes later Pickering had the next chance when Baxter just fired wide and the visitors then desirvidly pulled a goal back after good work by subsitute Richard Walker and the ball found David Howe wo stroked home with 73 minutes gone . The home side had a half chance when Liam Shepard ran towards goal and was about to hit a shot but before he did Shaun Hardy made a great block and the visitors twice came close to levelling matters in the space of a minute when Rocky Andrews hit a free kick which the keeper just about saved with the ball then being cleared and about a minute later the Teessiders won another free kick with Karl Lilley hitting a free kick which looked to be going in until Reid saved in the pikes goal and with about a minute left a corner came in and was headed towards goal and Readman had to clear the danger away.

Thornaby manager Neil Radigan comments after the match

" Performance was outstanding we played some great football apart from giving away silly mistakes"

Well my view of the match is that we didn't really start that well but when we equallised i thought that we looked the better side and dominated most of the match as we kept the ball well and we looked solid at the back in the second half and on another night we could have levelled and took the match to penna's but unlucky lads you all played really well and deserved to win the game i was really proud last night. The only way is up for us . As for Pickering well to be honest i can't believe that they have beaten three Northern League first division teams as i thought they were really poor last night but there hospitallity was fantastic so i wish them all the best in the North Riding cup and there league campaign.

Thornaby FC Team

1. Paul Hubbard
2. Michael Joseph
3. Shaun Hardy
4. Ste Morrison
5. Darren Morton
6. Paul Callan
7. Rocky Andrews
8. Robert Keenan
9. Gary Mitchell
10. David Howe
11. Karl Lilley

Subs used
12. Richard Walker
15. Billy Rees

man of the match: Karl Lilley

Match officals

Referee:B.Ballantyne
Assistans:M.Cottingham & J.Unwin

_________________
Matthew Carroll
Thornaby FC

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/pickeringtown/s/match-report-58842.html?official=0&fixture_id=1292731

Taken from Pickering Town FC club website.

Below-par Pikes scrape through in Senior Cup
By Mike Martin | Tuesday 30th October 2012
Pickering survived a dreadful second half performance to overcome Northern League strugglers Thornaby at Mill Lane.

With Thornaby struggling near the foot of the Northern League second division, the game looked like it might be a formality when Steve Baxter's cross-shot was turned in at close range by Liam Salt in the sixth minute. Shortly afterwards, a Tom Reid shot spun up off Thornaby 'keeper Paul Hubbard and threatened to bounce over the goal-line but the goalkeeper recovered and managed to scramble the ball inelegantly behind for a corner.

Pickering never looked assured, though, and struggled to impose themselves on physical opponents. Thornaby began to threaten and equalized in the 23rd minute when Rocky Andrews's free-kick from the left wing found a way through a crowded penalty area and into the bottom corner of the Pickering goal.

Pickering appeared affronted at having conceded and, in the last twenty minutes of the first half, played comfortably their best football of the game. They re-took the lead in the 34th minute when Steve Baxter and Dean Craig exchanged passes on the edge of the area and Baxter, playing tonight on the right wing, struck a well-hit shot into the bottom corner from twenty yards for the best goal of the game.

Five minutes later Pickering looked to have secured passage into the second round when a corner was only cleared to Tom Clarke on the edge of the penalty area. Clarke's shot looked to be heading wide but central defender Simon Sturdy, doing a passable impersonation of Teddy Sheringham in the 1999 Champions League Final, diverted the ball into the net.

For reasons connected to the shortness of life, this report will not faithfully document all of the Pikes' shortcomings in the second half but it was shambolic stuff at times, with possession squandered frequently and the attackers hardly mustering a chance of note; only a Tom Clarke run and shot threatened Hubbard's goal but even that was well wide.

Pickering defended using the by-hook-or-by-crook method and on the whole it worked, with Readman looking solid. Tom Reid was withdrawn in the 59th minute and, with John Heads coming on, Dean Craig moved to right-back. The referee had a busy night, with Pickering conceding too many free-kicks in dangerous positions and a Thornaby coach sent to the stands for expressing his opinions in a tone which hardly presaged a future career move into the diplomatic service.

Thornaby deserved a goal back and it came in the 73rd minute when striker Gary Mitchell found David Howe in space in the area and Howe slid the ball past Arran Reid into the bottom corner. It was a nervous end for the home side as a succession of corners and free-kicks had to be defended. The hosts did create two good late chances: a good run by Craig ended with Liam Shepherd having a shot charged down and a Salt effort a minute late suffered the same fate.

Readman had to produce one vital late defensive header from virtually under his own crossbar and Craig prevented Karl Liley from countering down the left wing at the death. On the basis that the result is all that matters in knockout football, this was a good evening for Pickering Town, but they will have to improve hugely if they are to beat Long Eaton United in the league on Saturday.

PICKERING TOWN 3 (Salt 6'; Baxter 34'; Sturdy 39')
THORNABY 2 (Andrews 23'; Howe 73')

Pickering Town (4-2-3-1): 1. A Reid - 2. T Reid (15. Heads 59'), 4. Resdman, 5. Sturdy (c), 3. Gowen - 6. Patterson (14. Taylor 61'), 8. Craig - 9. Baxter (17. Danby 70'), 11. Shepherd, 7. Clarke - 10. Salt

Unused subs: 12. McNaughton, 16. Fenwick

Correspondent's Man of the Match: Dean Readman
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PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Dean Readman

Comments (1)

Steve Woodrow - 4 hours ago
I agree wholeheartedly with your report Mike the lads made hard work of a game that looked promissing in the first 30 mins, then we seemed to just loose our way, it was a physical game with some really hard tackles going in, but the ref and his assistants did well to keep control. Our performance on Saturday will have to improve if we are to get another 3 points in the league.

"UP THE PIKES"

TheCodpiece!!!!!

_________________
David Beckham - "My parents have been there for me, ever since I was about 7."