Morpeth 1st XI v Newcastle Medics 1st XI

 Result: 5-2 Loss
 Scorers: R. Brown, P. Danecki
 M.O.M: R. Brown

 The first game of the new year gave Morpeth chance to shake off the cobwebs from the Christmas period and restart their campaign in the North East Premier League.

Newcastle Medics hosted this encounter, and it was always in the back of the visiting side that this could be an end-to-end game. It started off exactly as expected. Within the first minute the home side took the lead with their first free hit of the game which was deflected in. Morpeth planned to make sure this didn’t disrupt their attacking plan, and within seconds of the restart they found themselves in the Medics D and a goal mouth scramble was turned in by Ritchie Brown. 1-1 with not even 2 minutes on the clock.

Morpeth then took the lead with some great forward pressure forcing an error which Paul Danecki pounced on and dinked the ball under the surging goalkeeper.

The first half was becoming a period of great play for Morpeth putting together some great passing play and keeping hold of the ball well. So it was unfortunate when a late equaliser was scored just before the half time break.

The second half turned into a completely different story as Morpeth played into the wind. Though the wind was not to blame in the slightest! Lack of composure in all areas of the pitch meant that the ball was given back to the homeside far too frequently. Getting themselves into some great attacking positions, and then losing the ball cheaply meant that frustrations started to set it. Chasing the game, as Morpeth were now doing, only proved to stretch their limits and conceding 3 goals in the second half gave the Medics the deserved share of the spoils sending Morpeth home with nothing but one black eye to show for their troubles.