Match Report: Stockton Town 0-2 Redcar Athletic

An unbeaten start to the season continues as we put two past Stockton to end an incredibly hectic August on a high

Eight matches, no defeats, and quite a few goals, with Adam Boyes scoring six of them. Today though? He was unfortunate not to bag any, though Curtis Round and Oscar Fletcher did

A day of varying weather fortunately saw the match played in nice conditions, with a packed Stockton ground being another welcome sight at Step 3

Before kick-off, there was a minute’s silence in memory of the two fallen police officers, PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, following the tragic incident that occurred on the 22nd of August

The match started with a few attempts from the hosts, though Josh Mazfari was able to comfortably gather the ball and stop Stockton from being a threat.

We had some chances too early on, though the highlight of the opening ten saw a corner dealt with, following a Banks push forward, with his eventual pass into the middle being cleared behind.

A lot of set pieces appeared throughout the half, with the majority going to the hosts as they won several free kicks and throw-ins all over the field.

One free kick in particular saw a deep ball launched into the box, where their player at the far post couldn’t get a proper touch on it, allowing Mazfari to gather.

More chances came, and went for the hosts, but we were also having options at times, as an Oscar Fletcher strike from the edge of the box was held by the opponent’s keeper.

A chance came just before the 40th minute, as Stockton’s keeper missed the ball, but the scramble afterwards ended as Lewis Hawkins put a shot wide.

A great chance for the hosts looked to be the final act of the half, as a ball played into the box evaded everybody.

But the real best chance came for us seconds before the interval, as Andrei fed the ball to Boyes following some great work from JJ Bartliff, and Bosh went to turn and shoot, though his shot hit the far post and bounced away, ultimately being cleared, much to the frustration of our players, fans, and coaches.

What was becoming a theme for us was that we would always score more goals in the second half than we would in the first.

That fact remained true for this match as well, which you can probably piece together by knowing it was 0-0 at half-time.

The second half saw Stockton start strongly, though, as Bartliff was forced into making a big clearance to stop what was a very good chance for the hosts.

We had a couple of chances after, with Bosh finding himself in some great positions, though he was unable to put a shot into the net, with his closest attempt of this half so far going narrowly wide.

A couple of vague chances for Stockton appeared, with shots going wide or over, and we made a pair of changes in the 62nd minute, as Curtis and Louis came on for Nathan and Andrei.

Two minutes later, the pair, along with Oscar and Adam, combined to give us our first, as Louis produced some great skill to cut in and drive forwards, where his pass to Oscar was flicked towards Bosh.

His touch was knocked wide, but only to Curtis, who surged into the box and placed a strike into the bottom corner.

It took a while, but we were in front, and no sooner was it 1-0 than it then became 2!

Louis again drove forwards, played a pass to Bosh, Bosh held the ball, played it wide to Curtis, and Curtis laid a pass off to Oscar.

What followed was a powerful first-time strike from Oscar that, according to him, picked up a deflection, sending it away from the keeper and into the net to double our lead.

A header from Stockton landed on the roof of Mazfari’s net, with the hosts desperate to get back in the game following our quickfire double, though we could bring on Owen Burns and Brad Fewster, which did cause problems for a Stockton side already facing a problematic scoreline.

Those changes, along with a very solid defence, did help us see out the game, and it meant we ended August on 18 points, just one behind 1st-placed Cleethorpes, who are a side we face later in September.

FA Cup action next for us though, as we welcomed Stocksbridge to Green Lane on Saturday

Lineups:

Redcar Athletic: Mazfari, Guru [Johnson, 62′], Banks, Bartliff, Rowe, Lay (C), Smith, Hawkins [Burns, 82′], Boyes [Fewster, 87′], Fletcher, Ardelean [Round, 62′]

Unused subs: Spalding

Stockton Town: Harker, Brown, Baggs, King [Birtles, 81′], Nicholson (C), Coulthard, Barrett [Thompson, 68′], Painter, Nouble [Petitjean, 81′], Scott, Bone [Faulkner, 68′]

Unused subs: Rooney