After enjoying a spectacular start to the season, Newark Town were brought back down to earth as they narrowly lost to Bilsthorpe on Wednesday evening.
Bilsthorpe are likely to be one of the stronger sides in the division, and the difference compared to Saturday’s opponents Phoenix was plain to see from the first couple of minutes, with the visitors looking particularly sharp in attack.
They took the lead in the fifth minute, as Gavin King capitalised on a defensive error by Ricky North, who headed straight into his path to put the striker through on goal. King slid his effort past Craig Rhodes confidently.
Against a strong defence, the Blues were finding it difficult to break through but they still created chances, with both Dom Swingler and Calum Fraser spurning good opportunities to equalise.
Newark were indebted to Rhodes for keeping them in the game, as the goalkeeper produced a number of fine saves, with his spectacular diving effort to deny King a second goal a particular highlight.
In the first half alone, he made four decisive stops to keep Newark within touching distance as the defence struggled to deal with the pace of Bilsthorpe’s attacking play.
The Blues best chance to equalise came courtesy of a poor clearance from Bilsthorpe’s goalkeeper, but Newark’s strikers lacked the composure to take full advantage, and Calum Fraser eventually shot wide.
Despite his heroics in the first half, Rhodes could do nothing to prevent the visitors scoring a second just after the break, as they exploited a large gap down the left hand side. Mark Carter latched onto the cross with a confident first time effort to double their advantage.
Newark needed a quick response and found one through Calum Fraser. After finding himself through on goal he had his initial shot save, but kept his composure to score the rebound.
The goal seemed to turn the tide, and as the half wore on Bilsthorpe’s legs began to tire. Newark were predominantly camped in their visitor’s half but were unable to forge an opening, missing a creative spark in the final third of the pitch.
There were a couple of nervous moments for Bilsthorpe, but Calum Fraser’s looping header in the 91st minute was their best chance to grab a dramatic equaliser.
Tony Joynes was left lamenting a number of missed opportunities in the first half, but praised the spirit shown in the second half.
“After Saturday it’s a little bit of a comedown. We knew it was going to be tough, but we gave them two goals with defensive errors. The second half we looked a lot better, and I reckon we deserved a point of out that one.”
“We had a number of chances up front that we didn’t put away. Even against Phoenix we had a number of opportunities that we didn’t take, but when you don’t score them against a good side it will come back to haunt you,” he said.
Report by Rick Lane