30th November 2019 - Northallerton (h)

Being a Bay fan can be a lonely affair at times but as I turned the corner by Marden Bridge School there were other people walking up Hillheads road in the direction of the ground!
Newcastle had only just finished drawing 2-2 with some team called Manchester City (what sort of name is that? Need a proper name like West Allotment Celtic!) yet still there were people heading in my direction! Sadly six of my fellow walkers promptly dived in their cars and drove off. Three jumped on a bus and the remaining four went for a spot of ice skating. For a few precious moments I was not alone.

Another busy day at the Hillheads turnstiles?

It had been three weeks since our last game, rain putting paid to the fixtures in between so it would have been good to have seen the hordes streaming up the hill to get their fix of non-league footie. But alas, no, they weren't. A missing army of Christmas shoppers?

Excitedly, the usual crew were boosted by the welcome return of Keith and Daz Gibson, the former hopefully on the road to recovery. At least the sun was shining to cheer us up, a nice change from all the endless soakings we have had. I was also delighted to see Chris Wednesday for his first appearance of the season. Resplendent in his Sheffield woolly hat, we were soon joined by the legends that are Bob and Moira. Bob was sporting a stripy Bay woolly hat and was hoping to encourage the Bay fraternity into adopting his new method of wearing their hats to allow TEC (Total Ear Coverage).

Where's your hat Moira? Bucking the trend as usual! #Anarchistic

I was also pleased to note that my new coat from TK Maxx was allowing an extra level of warmth previously unfelt before and that extra pair of socks at the last minute was turning out to be a good move!

Since our last match, we had seen the departure of Craig Spooner to West Auckland but on the plus side, it was great to see the return of Robo to the starting line up. Bob was made up and every few minutes, he took great delight in repeating "It's good to see Robinson back in the starting line up, I like him!" The advantages of being an experienced member of society being that you can repeat the same thing over and over again and nobody bats an eyelid. 

After a bright Bay opening, Northallerton came back at the lads and Lister had to stretch to turn away an excellent chance, while Callum Anderson came up with a timely tackle to deprive Northallerton of a clear shot at goal. The home goal was certainly leading a charmed in life until a Town corner was turned in. 

This galvanised the Bay, with Robo and birthday boy Brad working well together, chinks began to appear in the visiting defence. Robo's (I'm assuming) Movember effort was worthy of praise...

Take a bow for that 'tache, son!

....and so did his goal, which totally bewildered Town's Thomas Dawson as it looped over him.

The Bay forwards were now smelling fresh meat and they powered forward, ably supplied by great service from Connor Smith and Luke Salmon on the wings. Whenever Town broke there were the trio of Anderson, Lowery and Orrell to break up their attacks and return the Bay onto the attack.

The Bay were soon ahead when Birthday Boy Brad scored with a sublime shot that drifted into Dawson's top right corner.

There was pandemonium behind the goal; Bob's hat got slightly knocked off his left ear.

But with the setting sun behind them, BBB (Birthday Boy Brad) revelled in his new-found Ready-Brek glow. 

After Lister came out to save bravely. the lads pressed forward for more...

The 258 present had certainly, mostly, enjoyed the first half and were glad that we had made the effort on what was turning into a chilly day.

The second half started slowly as the pitch started to get a bit slippy as the temperature dropped. It allowed Chris and Moira to engage their welcome new segment to the matchday experience: Tea Talk. This involved them discussing the virtues of loose tea leaves, that can be used more than once, over teabags, with their plastic coating of the actual bag! Not content with all this excitement, they then went on to expand upon the benefits of Ringtons Tea and having a cup of tea with some wine! It was riveting.

Thankfully the game picked up and it was the Bay who were creating the better chances.

One...

After another...

After another...

After another...

With memories of the previous home game's late Stockton equaliser, Town looked to be about to repeat that trick as they pressed. However, after some scary moments, the ref blew for full time to the relief of the home faithful. The Bay had won their first home league game since August. They had certainly made hard work of it, but it was a welcome one nevertheless. Next match... another three points is needed against Penrith. Then we could really celebrate with a tea and wine party!
"It's good to see Robinson back in the starting line up, I like him!" said Bob as we left. Hear! Hear! We all cried jubilantly.