Saturday, October 24A TOUGH encounter was expected at Alliance league leaders Wark who have been in terrific form so far this season with striker Marc Nixon already hitting 18 goals in total this season.
Alnwick elected to kic
k with the wind in the first half, but it was the home side that had the better start taking the game to Alnwick.
The first real shot of the game on 10 minutes led to Wark's first goal.
A decent strike from the edge of the area from Lancaster seemed to be well covered by Alnwick keeper Brian Brooks, but the ball slipped through the keeper's hands and crossed the goal line to give Wark the perfect start.
Alnwick had a good chance shortly afterwards. Tony Brown crossed to the back post and Richard Brown controlled the ball well but just fired his shot over the crossbar.
Brooks was called into action as he made two great stops, both times blocking shots with his feet as the Wark forward broke clear.
It was 1-0 going in to half-time and you couldn't have predicted the goal-feast at the start of the second half.
On 50 minutes Alnwick equalised. A Kevin Elliot pass to Dale Kennedy on the edge of the area saw the youngster hit a low shot which the keeper saved well but could only palm away. Ben Keenan was on hand to fire home from six yards out.
A poor refereeing decision two minutes later ultimately gave Wark back their lead. A long ball played through saw Neil Catlow clearly pushed in the back as he was about to play the ball to the keeper. The referee waved play on and the Wark player Lancaster stroked the ball home to the disbelief of the Alnwick players.
Alnwick could only blame themselves on 54 minutes as Wark were awarded a corner which was floated in to the six yard box for the unmarked Thompson to head to the ball wide of Brooks.
It was just about all Alnwick from this point on as they created several good chances and penned the home side back.
Keenan had a near-post header that hit the side netting with the keeper beaten.
John Colly could count himself unlucky as his lobbed shot from the edge of the box looked like it was rolling in to the empty net but it just went the wrong side of the post.
On 80 minutes Dale Kennedy swung in a deep cross. Midfielder Tony Brown elected to take a first time shot but fired wide from eight yards out.
He probably wished he had taken the ball under control as he had a little more time than he thought.
Alnwick had some fine performances on the day with Neil Catlow and Kevin Elliot in particular standing out, but Alnwick will rue the silly mistakes when they should have taken something out of a hard-fought game although credit to Wark who will be difficult to beat this term, especially on their home ground.
Team: B Brooks, B Murray, N Catlow, D Lowes, R Brown, J Lang, K Elliot, T Brown, S McMullen, B Keenan, D Kennedy, J Colly, A Tate.
