Sub Clark on target as Alnwick Town make a point

A hard-fought point made the long bus trip back up the A1 all the happier and gave manager Richie Latimer time to ponder his options as the treatment table at St. James’s Park is under real strain at present.

Latimer is a meticulous planner and was unable to put the work into his usual blackboard graft and preparation as Boldon had appointed new coaching staff and brought in a raft of new faces for the hastily re-arranged game, which had initially been postponed.

“We knew it was going to be a tricky fixture with their new management team coming in and with seven or eight new signings it was the unknown as obviously we couldn’t do any homework on the way they were going to play,” he said afterwards.

Boldon quickly signed the likes of former North Shields striker Tino Agostinho, who made his debut, and numerous others with an anticipated boost to their form materialising as Robbie Gateshill shot them ahead with a bending free-kick over the wall two minutes before the interval.

But Clark pegged them back as he came off the bench and smashed home from a half-cleared corner - and he almost won it when he slammed another effort that rebounded off the crossbar at the death.

“What also hasn't helped us is the amount of injuries that we are carrying at the moment with ten lads out on the sidelines, so we have to be happy to have taken a point away from home under the circumstances. I thought a draw was a fair result on the day,” said Latimer.

Alnwick do not have to travel for a mid-week fixture this week for the first time since the start of the season and the manager feels that the chance to recuperate can help his players.

“No mid-week game this week will benefit us by allowing lads rest time and will enable us to get lads back into training before we travel down to Yarm on Saturday which again will be a very tough test,” he continued.

“They have a great start to the season but it's a challenge we are looking forward to and will be putting the work in in training to get ourselves ready to put in a performance down there.”

This weekend’s hosts Yarm & Eaglescliffe are currently third in the Northern League Second Division table with nine wins from their opening 14 games while Alnwick are in a very respectable 12th spot at present.