Northern Alliance Charity Cup Final

Alnwick Town 2 Newcastle East End 0

Alnwick faced first division side Newcastle East End in the Alliance Charity Cup at Cowgate’s Pin Point sponsored ground.
Alnwick new their opposition were no mugs having knocked out Alliance premiere sides Ashington Colliers, Carlisle City and Blyth Town  respectively in previous rounds of the competition.
A fast and furious start from both teams as play switched from end to end in the early stages of the game without any clear cut chance being created.
The game came to life on 15 mins as Tony Brown was fed the ball 10 yards inside the East End half the midfielders outpaced the two defenders on his heels and calmly slotted the ball past the advancing keeper from just inside the area.

Newcastle could have equalised on 20 mins as a 20 yard shot was well saved by Brian Brooks tipping the ball on to the post.
Alnwick had the next chance soon after good work from Alnwick midfield trio Tate Yeadon and Patterson releasing Ben Keenan but the striker just firing wide of the post.
Brooks was then called on to make another full stretch save palming the ball wide after another fine effort from East End forward from the edge of the box.
Alnwick could not believe their luck on 40 mins as they went two up, a misunderstanding between the East End keeper and defender Ian Baistow saw the latter scoring an own goal placing it in to the empty net as he was pressured by the Alnwick forward line.
Alnwick had a much better start to the second half and pressed East End back and had chances to wrap the game up. Marc Richardson had a fine shot tipped over the bar, Keenan then had two great chances from the right electing to shoot on both occasions but both going wide of the mark.
Richard Brown was the next Alnwick player to test the keeper receiving the ball just outside of the box on the left he powered a terrific shot that was brilliantly saved by the East End keeper
Alnwick were awarded a penalty on 75 mins as Richard Brown was fouled in the box after good work on the left, Keenan stepped up for the spot kick his shot was saved by the East End keeper the rebound fell to James Lang but his shot went high of the target.
East End had nothing to lose after this and as they tried to get a foothold back in the game they were leaving gaps in midfield, Alnwick were starting to exploit the extra space around the pitch and were comfortable in seeing the game out and bring the first trophy back to Alnwick since the Benevolent Bowl in 1987.
Credit must be given to Newcastle East End team and management who made it a good game on the night playing in a fine sporting manor

TEAM     B Brooks, B Murray, N Catlow, G Bails, R Young, A Tate, G Patterson,
             P Yeadon, T Brown, M Richardson, B Keenan, R Brown, J Lang, C Henderson