FA Vase First Round
06 October 2007
A clash of heads settles the issue
by Ken Milgate

Durham City 5
English (pen) 105
Richardson 109    
Appleby 110
Clarke 115, 119

Sunderland Nissan 0

What seemed from the terraces a routine aerial challenge was deemed a punishable offence where it mattered and tipped the game in City’s favour after they had failed to beat their 8-man opponents up to that decisive moment.

Both Gary Pearson and Keith Graydon had long-range shots saved by the respective keepers before Graydon had Paul Newton scrambling towards his left-hand post to make sure his round-the-wall bender stayed wide.

On 22minutes Gavin Cogden slid the ball past John Mohan and agonizingly wide of the far post as he was clean through on goal.

The game was living up to the pre-match expectations of a competitive tussle between two evenly-matched sides.

However, shortly after David Wells had forced Mohan into a low save, City found themselves with a 1-man advantage when Cogden elbowed Graydon and was instantly dismissed.

The best City could do with the numerical advantage was to force two consecutive corners before Graydon fizzed over a free-kick from all of forty yards.

City started the second half in bullish mood and Jimmy Farrell featured prominently in three early moves, failing himself to get the final touch to a Johnny Butler right-wing cross before gifting Jamie Clarke two chances which ended in the side netting and over the bar respectively.

Despite being under constant pressure, Nissan were in no mood to concede and after a Tommy English free-kick had missed the far post by a comfortable distance, Gary Pearson’s thirty-yard strike landed comfortably in Mohan’s midriff.

In a game annoyingly and continuously denied the ebb and flow expected of both teams, City were handed a further advantage when sub Stuart Dixon was red-carded six minutes before normal time for a foul on Graydon.  The latter almost snatched victory for City in stoppage time but Newton saved the shot which seemed destined to cross the line at the top angle.

With 30minutes extra time to negotiate two men short, Nissan’s woes were compounded seven minutes into extra time when Chris Scott completed the referee’s hat-trick of dismissals for two yellows.

Subs Steven Richardson and Andy Appleby missed the crossbar by miles with a shot and header respectively before Nissan’s fortunes were dealt yet another blow when Stephen Harrison and Leon Ryan both fell to the ground after a challenge for a high ball in the box, the referee awarding City a penalty which English dispatched.

The second half was an embarrassing formality.

Richardson hit a crisp left-foot drive to double City’s lead before Appleby tapped in the rebound after Richardson’s initial shot had hit the post.  Two goals from Clarke in the final five minutes completed a numerically comprehensive but aesthetically disappointing cup-tie.

On a personal note, I had been looking forward to what I considered would be City’s toughest game of the season with lip-smacking relish; I drove home feeling cheated of winning a fair encounter.  The record books will register the margin of victory; my memory will recall a potential classic marred by substandard judgement.

Durham City – Mohan, Harrison, Capper, Dodds, Bowes, Smith (R), Butler (Richardson 56), Graydon (Bell 108), Clarke, Farrell (Appleby 68), English

Subs not used – Smith (C), Caffry

Sunderland Nissan – Newton, Scott, Wells, Stephenson (P) (Stephenson (A) 91), Ryan, Keegan, Cullen (Dixon 68), Walklate, Tait (Taylor 56), Cogden, Pearson