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Tuesday 12th October - Frickley Athletic 1-0 Bishop Auckland

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A second half strike from Richard Tracey earned the Blues a crucial three points against a Bishop Auckland side who were just 2 points better off then the Blues before kick off. However, the Blues faced an uphill struggle after Chris Fawcus was sent off for a second bookable offence just after the hour.

Gary Marrow fielded the same starting line-up and substitutes as he did for Friday evening's victory over Witton Albion and, although the Blues play wasn't as enterprising as it was on Friday another determined display, coupled with a bit of good fortune (for a change!) saw the Blues gain the win.

The Blues first effort at goal came after 4 minutes when Calum Selby’s deep free-kick was partly cleared to Steve Kennedy whose miss-hit shot fell to Steve Woolford but as saw his 15 yard shot blocked by Kevin Wolfe the assistant referee’s flag went up for offside. The Blues were struggling to make much impact against the visitors defence whilst Bishop Auckland were lively going forward. The Blues had a let-off on 15 minutes when a cross from the right evaded the Blues' defence with the ball falling to Lee Ludlow in the 6 yard box he turned and hit a weak shot which Marc Shackelton blocked. But the rebound fell to Ludlow whose next shot beat Shackelton but Tracey had got back to cover the line and did enough to deflect Ludlow's shot up and against the crossbar before the ball rebounded to safety. Minutes later Ludlow got goalside of Robinson and broke into the box but Shackelton was out quickly to collect off Ludlow's feet. The Blues responded with a patient build-up before Steve Robinson received the ball some 35 yards from goal, beat Adrian Morfitt and then hit a great shot from 30 yards which beat Wolfe but came back off the crossbar. Bishop's Chris Panson then nipped between Robinson and Calum Selby to bring an acrobatic save from Shackelton as the visitors were looking the more likely to score. As half time approached Matt Moran's dangerous cross was turned behind for a corner by Mark Foster with Adam Russell close behind him but the visitors had a golden opportunity to take the lead on 40 minutes when Panson sent Ludlow clear but the striker sliced his shot woefully wide from 18 yards.

The Blues started the second half more positively and went close on 48 minutes when Wolfe caught Selby's 22 yard free-kick on the line. The Bishop's goal led a charmed life a few minutes later when Robinson's high cross was feebly punched clear by Wolfe when under pressure from Adam Oldham and Tracey headed the ball back across the face of goal where Russell couldn't quite stretch enough to head goalwards. Lee Pugh retrieved the ball and played it back to Moran whose 18 yard shot was pushed over the bar by Wolfe. On 59 minutes Fawcus, who had already been booked, slid in on Chris Moore as he pushed the ball past him on half way and received a second yellow card and hence a red. Moore, however, played on the incident and moments later tried the same trick when fouled by Moran but the referee took took no notice this time, just lecturing Moran for his trouble. Gary marrow then replaced Adam Russell with Wayne Benn and switched Robinson to the left-back position to keep the tricky Moore in check. Tracey moved up front alongside Oldham. On 69 minutes the Blues scored what turned out to be the winner. Kennedy played the ball forward from the back towards Tracey but Steven West should comfortably have cut the pass out. However, all he could do was sliced the all into the path of TRACEY who sprinted clear and planted the ball past the advancing Wolfe into the net. Naturally, Bishops pushed forward for an equaliser but the Blues defence coped admirably with most of their attacks although just minutes from time Paul Collins almost caught Shackelton out when his long range effort caught Shackelton off his line but he recovered enough to tip the ball against the crossbar with the rebound being put tamely across the face of goal.