Shildon AFC crept three points closer to second place South Shields after a frigid encounter at second from bottom club West Allotment Celtic on Saturday 18th February.
A penalty conversion in the fifteenth minute was enough to separate the sides and present Shildon with maximum points in a game dominated by the freezing and blustery conditions.
In a hint at the direction of travel under its new management, the starting line up included new signing Adam Burnicle, a renowned goalscorer signed from West Auckland and youngster David Vincent who has been playing with the Shildon Under 23 side and who previously made some appearances in the first team towards the end of last season.
The conditions dictated that this was never going to be a classic and how right it turned out to be.
In fact Celtic failed to trouble Shildon keeper, Nick Liversedge throughout the entire 90 minutes while Shildon were not much better.
The only goal of the game came on 15 minutes when Celtic right back, John Pendlebury handled in the box for a penalty which Shildon left back, Matty Robson converted.
Midway through the first half Burnicle almost scored a debut goal, but agonisingly, his effort rebounded off the post.
Toward the end of an otherwise uneventful match, the same player was sent clear on goal but keeper, Chris Bannon was able to block his effort.
Shildon are now seven points behind South Shields with a game in hand and four ahead of Morpeth Town who have two games in hand over Shildon.
However, the Railwaymen will meet both sides in crunch league encounters this week: Morpeth visits Dean Street as the Crier goes to press while Shildon travel to South Shields on Saturday looking to dent the home side’s title aspirations while reviving their own. Kick off at South Shields is at 3pm.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
