There were smiles all round from the Bay management team after they had watched their side come from behind to inflict a first defeat of the season on high flying Newton Aycliffe. Tony Fawcett enthused “I thought it was a really good game of football to be honest between two good teams. I thought they’ve started pretty well, they’ve created a few chances and then we’ve come into our own in the first half and we could have come in at half time 2 or 3 each. We shored things up a bit second half and I thought we were terrific. I thought we were the better team second half; the game plan we had worked a treat. We’re really pleased with them!”
Derek Forrest was full of respect for the opposition. “We said at the start that they’re definitely a top six team and how far up that top six will probably be up to them. We knew that we’d have to bring our ‘A game’ and work hard. We’ve got talent, we know that, and if we can get our defensive shape which we did, and get organised against their game then if you look at the last bit of the first half we actually took the game to them. Then all of a sudden (after the penalty save) the game shifts and we look as if we’re going to win the game. The lads put a right shift in and came up with goods. Richard Coulson’s come in at the end with a header and scored the winner, and it’s a great win because they are a good side and we’ve out done and outworked them on the night and defended great in the end. So compliments to all the players for all their hard work and the gritty bits. That’s what we do demand and that will get us up the league.” Referring back to last week’s all out attacking game against Ashington, he added “We can’t always have 4-4 games!”
Talking about the quality and determined defending on show Tony explained “I think it sometimes comes down to the fact that they want to give for each other. In the first half they were working so hard and getting frustrated that it wasn’t quite going as they wanted. I know we keep saying this but they’re still a new team. I was so pleased how they fought for each other all the time.” Speaking about conceding the two penalties he commented “It’s unfortunate that they happened but they were just desperate not to let them score. It’s hard sometimes when it’s like that but it’ll come good in the end!”
Derek highlighted the positive element of the second penalty. ”We’re delighted we’ve saved that penalty, and a double save and then some great scrapping and defending to get the ball out of the area. That’s where the togetherness comes in, when you work that hard and get that belief which results like tonight give, you’ve got the belief that we can really push on now.”
Continuing with the theme Tony added “Momentum is a funny thing and it’s hard to explain it in football. It just happens sometimes and when you’ve got it, it’s so hard to play against it. That penalty save has helped us to swing the momentum a little bit, but certainly overall, it was just a good game of football.”
Derek summed up the evening by looking ahead to a series of four away games. “We’ve had that nice run of games at home and it’s been a real rollercoaster ride up to now and it’s been fantastic even in the defeats sometimes there’ve been highs and I think we are looking forward to going on the road now. We’ll go away and we’ll surprise a few people.”
