North Shields 1-1 Ossett United

North Shields 1-1 Ossett United

Northern Premier League (North-East Division)

Saturday 5th November 2022

This was a game which had a dramatic last-gasp finish!

A game which could have finished 6-6 yet it was somehow 0-0 after 90 minutes!

A game which Ossett United thought they'd won thanks to an injury-time strike from Alex Peterson; making his debut in a light blue shirt after joining the club from Sheffield FC only the other day!

And a game which will live for a long time in the memory thanks to North Shields 'keeper Finlay Hodgson who, having put in a brilliant performance at one end to thwart the visitors for so long, became the most unlikely of heroes by popping up with an EQUALISER with practically the last kick of the game - and no doubt earning himself a few free pints in the bar afterwards!

Oh yeah, and Luke Hogg didn't perform too badly either!

This game; the second of a 'double header' having also been at South Shields vs Forest Green Rovers, was actually the one I was looking forward to more - and, having been surrounded by BBC Sport cameras and the FA Cup trophy in the morning, there was nothing quite like coming back down to earth with an almighty bump than seeing a humble advertising board for 'Larry's Fishcakes' inside the ground.

Welcome to North Shields!

The game, as per my gut instinct, proved to be 'something else' because it was full-throttle and end-to-end from the off; completely unpredictable, packed full of chances and it just had so many ingredients (including a terrible pitch) which made it enthralling to watch.

Both teams had to settle for a point apiece but they'll both be scratching their heads and wondering quite how they didn't pick up all three given the sheer volume of chances they created.

It's easy to buy into what Ossett United are all about right now.

They might not be pulling up any trees; their record of Won 4, Drawn 3 and Lost 5 going into this fixture proves they're a mid-table outfit. However, they’re putting together a strong crux of good lads and ex-academy players who form the basis of a decent squad under new manager Grant Black.

Amongst their ranks are quite a few Doncaster-based players - namely Brad Grayson (whitest teeth in the league), Alex Peterson (mud mark on his head for the entire second half of this game) and Luke Hogg (more bite in the middle of a park than a Rottweiler) who all spent time in the academy set-up at DRFC when they were younger. James Cadman (statue soon to be commissioned in Scarborough) is Rotherham-based and progressed through the Millers' youth set-up at the same time some bloke who wore suspicious eye-liner was first team gaffer, whilst Danny South (the skipper and super-glue in this team who'll scrap, shout, grapple and galvanise everyone) is from Conisbrough and a well-established non-league defender who's been around long enough to know what it takes to succeed.

They've got other players too who are ‘familiar’; some just by name and some because I’ve seen them play before. Harry Gagen was at Barnsley up until a couple of years ago, Oli Metcalfe scored and did alright in a game against Frickley which I saw last season, whilst Jack Wilson (a Youth Alliance title winner at Bradford last season) is also on loan at Ingfield at the moment albeit he wasn't involved in this particular game.

Put these lads together, throw in a few more additions, and the crux of a half-decent team who'll work their nuts off and show good characteristics is there and it shouldn’t be too long until they pick up results on a regular basis and start ‘Moving On Up’ the league table - especially with Grant Black and Mick Norbury kicking every ball from the sidelines and screaming to try and get the best out of them.

That said, for the opening 10-15 minutes of this game, Ossett were all over the shop and might have found themselves 2-0 or even 3-0 down on a different day as Dan Turner skimmed a header just wide of the post before Chris McDonald soon left the crossbar, then the post shaking, after he let fly with shots from distance.

Shields 'keeper Finlay Hodgson then came into his own as the game became more even; claiming a header on his goal-line when any fumble might have proved costly and then brilliantly thwarting Brad Grayson who found himself in a one-on-one and had two bites of the cherry albeit to no avail.

With the pitch starting to cut up as the rain began to pour from the dark and dingy sky, the endeavour, work-rate and intensity from both teams still remained good. North Shields whistled some shots in on goal which forced Liam Hall into saves, a few others went within a whisker of creeping inside the post, whilst at the opposite end Luke Hogg (the same height as Lionel Messi - and probably the only time he’ll get mentioned in the same sentence as Lionel Messi!) started popping passes about like the Argentinian including one for Luke Aldrich which nearly put him clean through.

‘Hoggy’ scored twice in a win at Long Eaton United the other week and just before half-time he thought he’d bagged in this game - getting on the end of a cross to slide the ball into the net only for some bloke with a fluorescent flag to cut short his celebrations.

Quite how it was still 0-0 at half-time was a mystery and, with Ossett introducing Alex Peterson (or ‘Petterson’ as the North Shields PA man kept referring to him as), they carried even more threat during a second half which ended up being even more exciting as the first 45 minutes.

For a long time it looked like it would finish 0-0 and Shields ‘keeper Finlay Hodgson pulled off another remarkable save (arguably the best of about half-a-dozen good ones) when he got something on the end of Dan Burns’ acrobatic attempt during a series of Ossett corners with about five minutes of normal time remaining!

Then came all the drama in injury-time!

In the 91st minute, Ossett thought they’d won it when Janni Lapka whipped a set-piece from deep into the box and Peterson (or ‘Petterson’ to some) flicked out a leg to finally beat Hodgson and send the ball into the net. 1-0, emphatic celebrations as he sprinted to the touchline where he was mobbed by his jubilant team-mates (and the subs bench) and a goal he deserved a lot given the sheer amount of flick on’s he won in the second half.

But the game wasn’t over!

With Ossett absolutely knackered, sitting very deep, desperately clinging on - and just generally unable to smash the f**king ball as close to the corner flag at the opposite end as they could, North Shields were allowed possession and to pump danger into the box.

In the fifth of four added minutes, they won a free-kick. In the seventh they finally took it and ‘THIS IS IT’ screamed Grant Black, knowing that time was up after this chance.

Somehow it wasn’t because the ball got turned behind for a corner (which the referee allowed to be taken) and amidst a proper goalmouth scramble in a total mud-bath of a six-yard box, Ossett were unable to clear and Hodgson toe-poked a shot which trickled its way past everyone and ended up in the net.

Pandemonium; an equaliser on ‘90+4+2+1+1 minutes’ from the goalkeeper, a game he’ll remember forever and unsurprisingly the ‘Man Of The Match’ award to his name as well - although his back might hurt a bit this morning from the subsequent ‘pile on’ in the corner during a celebration that he probably never expected to make at any point in his career!

I’ve actually seen a ‘keeper score before; Alan Marriott did it for Mansfield against Wrexham in 2012 and Frazer Hampson did it at youth level (again for Mansfield) against Notts County in 2015, albeit not in circumstances quite as dramatic as these!

It wasn’t a surprise to see Luke Hogg also scoop Ossett’s MOTM award on Twitter afterwards.

Whilst I’ll give him plenty of banter (and he deserves it with some of the clobber he wears in his Instagram photos), some of his passes in this game were of genuine quality considering it was such a crap pitch - and even Danny South was applauding a couple during the first half. Like everyone else, he tired towards the end but, more to the point, he’s proof of what happens when a lad works their b*llocks off to succeed. Released by Doncaster at Under 16s level, he’s endured the rejection but done the hard yards in the years since - playing for AFC Bentley when he could have given up altogether, serving a suspension at Hemsworth last year (best suspension in football history too!) and he’s got the grit and guile between his teeth, plus fight and character, and is very much a big part of this Ossett United team.

The wardrobe needs some work before it’s up to respectable standards but on the pitch he’s won plenty of people’s respect! Bravo!