Final Score: Spennymoor Town 1 Newcastle Benfield 0

SPENNYMOOR TOWN striker Gavin Cogdon scored in a cup final win for the second time this season when he headed the only goal of the Brooks Mileson Northern League Cup final yesterday.

Cogdon headed the first goal in the FA Carlsberg Vase final against Tunbridge Wells on May 3, and scored the only goal of the game in a similar situation at Consett’s Belle Vue yesterday, in the last ever game to be played on the ground.

At Wembley, Cogdon headed in a right-wing cross from Keith Graydon, and yesterday, he beat Newcastle Benfield keeper Andy Grainger with a stooping header from a rightwing cross by Kallum Griffith after 20 minutes.

Moors were on top for most of the first half, and Cogdon went close twice more, but he fired straight at Grainger.

Lee Mason, who played for Blyth for most of the season, almost levelled before the break with a right foot shot which crept just past the post.

Moors nearly went 2-0 up after the break with a dipping shot by Griffiths which just cleared the bar, but Benfield almost squared the match at the other end, and Kevin Leighton hit the outside of the post from an acute angle.

The agility of Grainger stopped a powerful pointblank header by Moors sub Mark Davison, and he also saved a Cogdon effort from close in.

And in the closing minutes, Moors keeper Robbie Dean saved well from Sam Norris.

It was Moors’ third trophy of the season following the Vase and the Cleator Cup, in their 71st competitive match that has taken them to Guernsey and Wembley along the way. They have also finished runners-up to Darlington in the Northern League with a club record 109 points.

Moors boss Jason Ainsley said: “I thought we were comfortable, but we needed the second goal to kill the game off. I thought we knocked the ball about well, and there was a 20-minute spell in which I thought we played some of our best football of the season.

“But when you don’t kill games off, then you give the other team some encouragement.”

Newcastle Benfield playermanager Steve Bowey said: “Overall, I was pleased with our performance. Spennymoor always gave the impression that they would move up a gear, but I’d like to think we gave them something to think about in the last ten minutes.”

􀁧 Bedlington have had three points deducted by the league for naming a player, Rob Eastway, on a recent team sheet, when a player called Rob Black played.