Consett won their mid table battle against Bishop Auckland on a very cold and grey day, however due to their new 3G playing surface the game went ahead when all around games were being postponed due to muddy surfaces. I had originally gone along to the (real) Belle Vue to watch Consett Rugby second XV but arrived in time to see the referee take both teams off the pitch before the kick off due to the muddy pitch and cancel the game.
The first half saw Consett play into a very strong head wind, which made playing football hard but made photographing football even harder as my telephoto lens was acting like a Boats sail and I was being buffeted by the breeze. But at least it was sunny and wasn’t raining (much). The half was played mostly in the centre of the pitch as Consett were unable to overpower the conditions but all looked better for the second half when the wind would be on their backs. 
The second half was a completely different game, the drizzle stopped and Consett made full use of the wind to score three goals and win the game. The man of the match, Consett’s No 10 Michael Mackay made several good runs beating the offside to score all three of Consett’s goals for his personal hat trick.
At the risk of sounding like a real ‘Football pundit’ – ‘It was a game of two halves’ I was impressed by Consett AFC but even more impressed by their ‘3G’ playing surface. The game went ahead, Consett fans were happy and I ended up going home NOT covered in mud.
To see more images from the game CLICK HERE.
To visit Consett AFC site CLICK HERE.
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