North Sunderland 4 Alnmouth United 1
Having resigned from the Northern Alliance First Division before the commencement of last season and then being unable to recruit a squad at short notice to compete in this league, it was important Alnmouth were able to reform for this term with some of their loyal previous squad and a good number of new recruits, although up until a week ago, success was far from certain.
To add to their task, being fixtured against the reigning champions for their first outing felt somewhat like being thrown in at the deep end but although their opponents enjoyed the vast bulk of possession, the outcome was no foregone conclusion for much of the encounter.
North Sunderland finally breached Alnmouth’s defence with a fine 20 yard strike from Leon Midgeley on the half hour. Owen Robson doubled the lead just before the break, catching the visiting defence cold after a flick on from a long throw.
Stephen Shendon’s break down the right and drive into the bottom corner from well outside the area halved the deficit and gave the visitors hope on fifty minutes but it was short lived as soon after they once more fell two behind as the result of Midgeley’s second – an impressive volley from range giving James Bolam in the away goal little chance.
A goal-line scramble saw Glenn Robson unlucky not to close the gap again before the points were finally made safe ten minutes from time following a one-one one run from Chris Coe, with United unlucky not to see an offside flag.
Best for North Sunderland was Leon Midgeley, while Michael Brown received the vote for Alnmouth.
Alnmouth United: J Bolam, R Donaldson, M Cook, K Lowes, J Reid, R Mallaburn, M Brown, R Turnbull, S Shendon, C Stewart, G Robson. Subs (NU) C Henderson, T Slack, A Martin.