The Highwaymen were made to work hard for their victory on Saturday over a resolute Newcastle Benfield side writes Sam Donovan.
A brace from Liam Henderson secured the come from behind victory after Danny O’Reilly had fired the hosts ahead.
The hosts began the game brightly and the veteran Paul Brayson was denied by a block from Callum Williams before O’Reilly saw his effort saved by the trialist in goal for Morpeth.
Benfield continued to dominate the opening stages and they took the lead on 9 minutes when O’Reilly was given space to curl an effort from the edge of the box. The strike took a slight deflection off Williams and looped over the ‘keeper and into the back of the net.
Town were struggling to get any sort of foothold in the game and their first chance didn’t arrive until the 14th minute but Jack Foalle scuffed his effort across goal and it went wide.
The front two of Benfield were causing problems and the pair were involved again after 20 minutes. O’Reilly was brought down in the area and the referee pointed to the spot. After a short delay, Brayson stepped up but saw his effort come back off the inside of the post before spinning across goal and out of play.
It took until the 26th minute for Morpeth to muster an attempt on target but the header from Foalle was directed straight at the ‘keeper.
Benfield continued to attack, looking to gain a bigger cushion for their first half dominance. O’Reilly was caught on the edge of the area but the free kick from Brayson was blocked by Wayne Phillips. When the ball was worked around the box, the ‘keeper had to be alert to push away an effort from Brayson.
Morpeth improved after the break and began to take the game to their hosts. Stephen Forster in particular at the heart of things with his surging runs down the right. Two minutes into the half he delivered a low cross that pinballed around the area before reaching Chris Reid who fired narrowly wide.
That chance didn’t prove costly as Town restored parity on 49 minutes. Forster again got into the box and danced around a defender before cutting the ball back to Henderson who tapped home.
Henderson started to pull the strings up front for Morpeth as he won a series of free kicks with his holdup play around the edge of the area but the delivery lacked the quality.
He tried to curl one into the top corner on 71 minutes but the ‘keeper was able to get across goal and make the save.
He made no mistake moments later as he put the Highwaymen into the lead on 74 minutes. Forster again was the provider as he burst into the area before crossing for Henderson to nod home.
There was to be no further scoring opportunities as Morpeth held on to take another victory. Attention now turns to the next friendly on Tuesday evening when they travel to Blyth Spartans.
Trialist (Trialist, 46’), Forster, Turner, Williams, Reid, Mohammed (Johnson, 46’), Phillips (Sayer, 66’), Hodgson (Oliver, 66’), Walton (Trialist, 50’), Foalle (Noble, 66’), Henderson.
