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After a couple of disappointing games, Gillford Park bounced back from cup defeat and last week's abandonment on Saturday, against bottom side Newcastle University. When push came to shove, Gillford were the next step up as John Lee Allen, Tom Brocklebank, Steve Skinner, Kyle Armstrong and Dan Rayson got their names on the scoresheet. Gillford were forced to cope in the absence of a number of players and at-home-debuts were handed to Kyle Armstrong and goalkeeper Lee Tedford. Stuart Moffat returned from injury while John Lee Allen regained his place in the starting eleven. It was interesting to see how the re-shuffled team would work and, as far as Lee Tedford is concerned, the initial exchanges brought the answer. Newcastle University broke down the right in the second minute and a cross-field ball was rolled into the path of Woolman who was only kept out by a superb stop by Tedford. Gillford made a quick counter and earned a corner, but from Skinner's set piece Brocklebank headed over. The breakthrough came shortly after for Gillford when Dan Rayson's shot was blocked and found its way to John Lee Allen, but the visitors were powerless to stop his effort which rattled the underside of the bar on its way into the net. John Lee was determined to take his chance back in the lineup and carried on in blistering form, starting the next move which would lead immediately to a goal as he sent a good ball to Kyle Armstrong. Armstrong, who was proving himself to be a nuisance in front of goal, swivelled and chipped the ball up and over onto the head of Brocklebank, whose powerful header nestled in the net before the keeper had a chance to react. As the minutes turned to seconds and the seconds eeked away at the end of the first half, some good work in midfield saw a neat ball from Moffat send Armstrong on a run of 18 yards that halted only when he was upended in the box. Steve Skinner stepped up to the plate and unfalteringly despatched the penalty to make the score at half-time, three-nil. Dale Armstrong replaced Tom Brocklebank - who had tweaked his hamstring - at half-time and immediately showed what he's capable of when he received the ball on the half-way line and slipped past two defenders before setting up a well saved chance for Rayson. It took 18 minutes for Gilly to break down a dogged Newcastle Uni defence, but they had the fourth when a deep cross shot by Moffat was turned out to Kyle Armstrong on the six yard box. After having a hand in the second and third goals, it was Kyle's turn as he tucked it away into the bottom left hand corner.
After a little spell of pressure that saw a string of four corners, substitute Darren Lee's clever ball in was sent wide by Ally Lang to Dan Rayson. The forward made his way towards goal before looking up and spotting the keeper off of his line, he lobbed an effort over his head and into the goal to bring a conclusion to a good game for himself and his team. Five-nil. Celtic's Final Thought (if only it was!): Although 'The Students' had a good go I am afraid they were totally out-classed by a very slick performance from the home team. With the changes in the team, the fans must have wondered how it would affect the performance but any concerns were needless, as our squad has a lot of quality about it. The debut players did well and helped pick up another three points. We have a hard run in to come so lets keep it up lads. Good luck for next week against Cramlington.
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