Plain sailing as Kirkbymoorside get on the rise (From Gazette & Herald)

Plain sailing as Kirkbymoorside get on the rise

2:50pm Wednesday 20th February 2013 in Sport

KIRKBYMOORSIDE moved 12 points clear of the Wearside League’s bottom two with a 4-1 home victory over lowly Annfield Plain.

Sarjo Cham, Alex Strickland, Jonathan Brown and Jonathan Birbeck were the marksmen as the Moorsiders also climbed up to 15th place in the standings.

Player-manager Strickland enjoyed the relative luxury of making just one change from the side that beat Prudhoe in the previous game with veteran Darren Collier replacing the unwell Marc Tansey in goal.

And, as early as the second minute, the hosts signalled their intent when a Strickland lob was disallowed for offside.

Collier was forced into a decent save shortly afterwards but both Danny Bradbury and man-of-the-match Jordan Rivis became more and more influential in midfield and the Moorsiders went on to kill the game off with three goals in a devastating seven-minute spell.

After a nasty collision between Brown and visiting ’keeper Grant Scott, which saw the latter require five minutes of treatment, Rivis’ free-kick from 20 yards rebounded off the luckless ’keeper to Cham who turned the ball into the net on 35 minutes.

Just two minutes after the re-start, a Brown through ball found Strickland who beat Scott to double lead.

Brown’s free-kick was then deflected past the hapless and limping Plain keeper.

Another free-kick completed the Moorsiders’ scoresheet when, on 57 minutes, Birbeck avoided the defensive wall and found Scott’s bottom corner.

The home side then took the opportunity to rest Strickland and Brown with a hectic schedule looming and Nathan James and Connor Campbell did well as replacements.

Plain finally replaced Scott with James Davies between the sticks in the 67th minute and, as Strickland’s side eased off, they duly scored a consolation goal in the 78th minute when Ross Nicholson beat the advancing Collier to deny the home side a long overdue clean sheet.

The Moorsiders now travel to Sunderland West End tonight (Wednesday) before entertaining Peterlee on Saturday.

Kirkbymoorside (v Annfield Plain): Darren Collier, Jonathan Birbeck, Paul Hodgson, Karl Richardson, Lee Bannister, Sarjo Cham, Jordan Rivis, Chris Rhodes, Alex Strickland, Jonathan Brown, Danny Bradbury. Attendance: 35.