Shildon ventured north of the Tyne for their furthest away fixture on the league calendar as they visited Newcastle’s Forrest Hall who are newcomers to the league.

The team set off with a post code that took them to the wrong part of the University Campus, and as the team assembled and got changed they had no time to warm up with the referee getting the game under way with players still missing.

In a reshuffled team with a strong wind in their faces, Shildon were all over the place from kick off, struggling to hold on to the ball with a youthful Forrest Hall team bossing the game and within five minutes they had gone 1-0 up.

Five minutes later Forrest Hall scored again; a carbon copy of the first with slack marking and poor passing. It was looking to be a miserable journey back to Shildon if this continued.

However, the visitors started to get a foothold in the game after 15 minutes with recent signing Neil Topping pouncing on an error at the back and coolly slotting the ball past the keeper to halve the deficit.

There were chances at either end before Kevin Comerford, who was sporting a new haircut for the game, deflected a shot into the path of Dave Bullyment and his whipped cross found Stephen Wheldon to head home the equaliser.

Shildon’s philosophy of playing football on the ground from the back has its risks and mistakes will happen, and one of those mistakes at the back let Forrest Hall’s number 10 stealing the ball and edging the hosts back in front.

Minutes later an innocent challenge just before half time saw Kev Costello go off with suspected broken ribs. The full extent of the injury was not known until Kev left almost a full pint in the pub afterwards.

The second half started with Shildon on the front foot and with the wind at their backs they looked to bring the pace of Bell and Topping into play.

They were soon back on level terms when Graham Raisebeck bundled a debut goal in at the far post.

Shildon dominated the second half and in the shadow of Newcastle’s Benton Training ground, Neil Bannister was like Jonjo Shelvey, in a grey wig, pinging balls all over the pitch.

The cold wind was taking its toll with Raisebeck and Thompson both picking up injuries. Luckily Steve Hoare and Alan Toase finished shopping in Primark at the Metro just in time to shore the team up for the last 15 minutes.

As Shildon searched for the winner, a long ball beat the Forrest Hall defence for Neil Topping to run on and bury it for his second of the day, the winner and the man of the match award.

It was an excellent team effort all round but there was a special mention for Mark Coatsworth playing out of position and putting in a great shift.