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Arngrove Northern League
22 March 2008
City shine with Johnston’s polish
by Ken Milgate
Durham City 5
Johnston 10, 37, 76, 79
Richardson 65
Ashington 0
For all their quickness on the break Ashington had nothing to compare with City’s dual strike force of Adam Johnston and Steven Richardson, a measure of their compatibility and understanding underlined by Richardson’s patient wait to lay off to his fellow striker to complete his hat-trick as City made it eleven wins in a row.
Mark Cockburn’s speculative thirty yard drive was comfortably held by John Caffry on the first bounce, but his counterpart, Paul Simpson, was beaten by Johnston’s cracking chip after Richardson had tenaciously won and kept possession on the edge of the box before passing to him.
Simpson was always favourite to beat Richardson to a through ball two minutes later, but he was rooted to his goal-line as no-one “dared” touch a Richardson fizzer of a left-wing cross.
Paul Hutchinson was fortunate to see his headed clearance from a Tommy English corner on 17minutes hit the crossbar before Ashington’s Gary Cook sent another distant effort well wide of the post.
From another English corner Johnston rose majestically above a posse of defenders only for his header to be cleared off the line.
However, City’s second goal duly arrived on 37minutes when Johnston tapped in from close range a Richardson left-wing cross.
In the closing stages of the first half John Toft and Johnston went close for City’s third as they dominated the match.
Caffry proved his alertness and agility on 57minutes when he pounced on a through ball that sundry players in front of him declined to deal with.
Simpson tipped over a Keith Graydon thirty-yarder which was travelling at some pace before City ended a series of five successive corners when Richardson turned on the six yard line to beat Simpson for City’s third.
The busy Ashington keeper excelled himself yet again three minutes later when he tipped over an English drive but had no chance with Johnston’s hat-trick goal described earlier. It is testimony to Richardson’s progress as a player that earlier in the season he would have gone for gold himself, but his selfless pass earned many a plaudit from the terraces.
City’s overall performance fell short of the decisive win at Consett, but Johnston’s fourth was the highlight of the game as he guided Graydon’s right-wing cross Thierry-Henry-style into the bottom corner of the net with a drag back volley.
Such is the form and durability of City’s twin strikers that sub Jimmy Farrell’s outings are nowadays mostly reduced to cameo sequences at the end of won games, which may also explain how he failed to convert a number of good chances. With the result of the match beyond by doubt by then, only a handful of golden goal ticket-holders will have rued his profligacy.
Four more goals will complete City’s League ton and at the moment City are only three more wins away from the Championship.
Durham City – Caffry, Harrison (Davison 46), Capper, Calvin Smith, Dixon, Richard Smith, Toft (Morris 60), Graydon, Richardson, Johnston (Farrell 79), English
Subs not used – McSween, Pitt
Man of the match – Adam Johnston
Ashington – Simpson, Morton, Nugent, Tremble, Hutchinson (P), Mark Cockburn (Atkinson 52), Jelley (Scott 69), Hutchinson (S), Robbie Cockburn, Bainbridge, Cook (Mullican 69)
Man of the match – David Tremble
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