Mens 3rds vs Carlisle 2

A strong band of 14 Morpeth warriors arrived at a strangely sunny Longhirst raring to give all they had jn their season finale. And that they did. From the off, Morpeth gave it their all, committing to every tackle, making great runs up the wing and battling as hard as they could. Carlisle gave it their all too, looking quite strong for a bare 11, but Peth just had the upper hand. 

Through the first half balls flew continually through the Carlisle circle. And cross after cross blistered wide, behind, and just out of reach of the Morpeth front line. 

Eventually, Morpeth managed to take the lead. From a free hit wide of the D the ball found it’s way to the younger Renwick, who skillfully dribbled his way through swathes of Carlisle defenders, allowing be ball to fall square on the goal, but with his path blocked by a Carlisle player. Here, H.Craik stepped up, taking into his own hands finishing the great play, sweeping the ball into the top of the backboard, past the keeper who stood no chance at getting to the stunning shot. Andy with that, Peth were up, however, and slightly overzealous celebration from the goal scorer earned him DoD. 

The half continued much as it had before the goal, with neither team materialising any chances they had. Powell however, did not let the half finish without any more notable occasions, earning himself a (slightly harsh) green card for not getting his feet out of the way.

After a conflicting team talk both teams were back at it. Morpeth kept pushing, with more success now. This first came in the form of a defence splitting pass to the older Renwick, who turned and managed to put the worst shot of his season past Carlisle’s keeper, much to the shock of the rest of the team. Next came a clinical finish from Frank Roberts, stemming from beautiful passing play from the Morpeth side to expand their lead to 3-0, redemption for the open goal he missed just minutes earlier. 

Carlisle however did not dishearten and despite a beautiful save from the Morpeth keeper, Magee to put one in the Morpeth goal on the rebound to make it 3-1.

Morpeth proceeded to extend their strong lead by 1 more goal, with Max Renwick firing a now much more sure shot into the net, a welcome change from his usual shots wide of goal. 

The game ended 4-1 in a beautiful, sunny end to the season for Morpeth’s 3s, who celebrated with a beautiful banquet prepared by their new designated chef (at least after that performance). 

MoM-Phil Tomlinson

DoD-Harrison Craik

Champagne moment-Chris Oakton