Match Report: Redcar Athletic 5-0 Bishop Auckland

Another five goals to add to the ever-growing tally as we swept aside a Bishop Auckland side who are trying to evade relegation

There was no real indicator on how we would perform following the title-winning Matlock match on Wednesday night.

What followed, though, was an expert display that saw 4 separate goalscorers bag for the Steelmen.

We started the game the strongest, and it was by quite a margin too, as Louis Johnson and JJ Bartliff both had strikes on goal within the first 10 minutes.

In fact, Louis Johnson was everywhere throughout the match, with almost every chance involving him at some stage.

We passed the twenty-minute mark with the scores level, but the deadlock was broken in the 23rd minute, as a Curtis Round cross missed most of the players in the box before falling to John Howard, who slammed in a half-volley that slipped between the keeper’s arm and leg, nestling in the back of the net.

Mazfari pulled off some solid stops in defence to keep the visitors at bay, and we were forced into an early change as Danny Rowe came off with an injury that saw Nathan Guru replace him.

There weren’t many more chances this half, with the highlight outside of John’s goal coming when Louis Johnson was found in a pocket of space and looked to place the ball into the bottom corner, though his shot ended up hitting the side netting.

The half-time whistle came, and with it we had a slender 1-0 lead.

The second half started, and once again it was the Steelmen on the front foot, with a John Howard header being blocked off the line.

But we did double our lead within the first 5 minutes of the half, as Louis went down the right, shielding the ball away from Bishop’s defence, before playing a clean one-two with Mark Anderson that saw Louis receive the ball before rolling it past the keeper.

Roughly on the hour mark, we made three more changes, with Brad, Bryan and Oscar coming on for Curtis, Sparky and Owen.

Two of those substitutions would instantly pay off, as Brad played a great ball through to Louis, who crossed it to the middle, where Oscar could head it in, giving him his first strike since our 8-0 win against Ashington

Brad would go from creating to finishing just five minutes afterwards too, as he received a long ball from Bartliff that allowed him to shoot from the edge of the box, with Bishop Auckland’s goalkeeper standing with him.

Mitch Parkinson would come on for Rio May, and he would then have a hand in our fifth and final goal, as he played a long ball forward in the 83rd minute that found Bosh, who held off the defender and laid the ball off to Louis, who ran through and slotted it home.

It was a case of long ball issues for Bishop, with one more nearly causing them to concede a sixth, but ultimately it came to nothing, and we would leave the Hollou with a 5-0 victory and another three points.

See you there, and as always, up the title-winning Steelmen!