Team Northumbria face Marske today looking to bounce back from a disappointing away defeat to North Shields in midweek.
The Coach Lane club travel to Teesside wondering how they failed to claim at least a point on North Tyneside.
And head coach Colin Stromsoy admitted he was impressed with Wednesday’s performance - albeit frustrated by the result.
A young TN side started brightly with Robbie Spence warming the hands of Kyle Hayes in the North Shields goal with a shot from distance.
A chance for TN was intercepted on the 28th minute which allowed the hosts to counter attack.
The ball was laid off to Joe Robson who produced a fabulous strike from outside the area which nestled in the left hand corner of the goal.
TN could have been 2-0 down just before the break if it wasn’t from the heroics of stand-in keeper Charlie Murphy.
Murphy denied winger Lee Mason from point blank range, making sure the scoreline stayed at 1-0 going into the second half.
“Charlie came in to replace Stefan [Holden] and made a couple of great saves,” said Stromsoy.
“His handling was good and he couldn’t do anything with the two goals. I was really pleased with Charlie.”
A crowd of 275 saw TN kick off the second half and despite coming out a more organised outfit the away team were unlucky to concede a penalty on 51 minutes.
Who else but Gareth Bainbridge stepped up to give his side a two-goal cushion.
“I thought we coped with Bainbridge very well,” said Stromsoy.
“His goal came from the spot - I don’t recall him ever having a shot other than that.”
TN had 56% of the possession during the game, which manager Stromsoy was delighted about.
“We are a team of students, and we are proud of that, but where we are competitive is from hard work on the training pitch,” he added.
“In many ways it was a great performance.”
TN drew 0-0 with Marske in pre-season after the Teessiders had won their previous eight fixtures.
Marske sit third in the Northern League’s first division with TN looking to push on from their mid-table berth.
.jpg_62276aa9abc9d.png)
