End of Morpeth's play-off hopes

Action from Morpeth's 3-0 home defeat against Scarborough on Monday.

On Good Friday Morpeth suffered a 3-2 loss at Bamber Bridge and this was follwed by a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Scarborough Athletic on Easter Monday.

Andrew Johnson scored twice against Bamber, extending his tally for the season to 23 goals.

Paul Dawson headed home unopposed to give Bamber the lead after five minutes, with Johnson equalising ten minutes later when Ryan Donaldson’s effort was parried into his path.

Parity lasted four minutes as Dawson struck again in near carbon copy fashion, nodding in with a free header.

The decisive moment of the game came on the stroke of half-time when the Highwaymen conceded a third. This time Fin Sinclair-Smith sprung the offside trap and slotted across the keeper.

Liam Henderson and Ben Sayer provided an impact off the bench in the second half, and Morpeth reduced the deficit on 66 minutes through Johnson’s spot-kick.

On Monday, in the final home game of the season at Craik Park, Scarborough secured the three points which they themselves needed to secure a play-off place.

The visitors opened the scoring in the 14th minute, through the right back Weledji. After heading goalwards from a corner, keeper Dan Lowson did superbly to keep it out. But the rebound fell to the defender to slam home from close range.

Scarborough added a second nine minutes later when Gooda broke free of his marker to strike across Lowson and into the back of the net.

Will Jarvis then shot wide when in behind the Morpeth defence as the visitors threatened to end the game in the first half.

In the second half Joe Walton smashed a rising volley off the post, but Weledji raced clear on the counter to fire across Lowson and into the far corner to confirm the win for Scarborough.

Morpeth, who are ninth in the Northern Premier League table with 60 points from 41 games played, finish their league season with a visit to 17th placed Atherton Collieries on Saturday.