Dynamo Fenham F.C.

The Dynamo stopped the rot in dramatic style as they fought to win a point at a sunny Newburn Leisure Centre. Starting with a slightly makeshift 11, due to injury and illness; Stokoe, Tunesi, Richards, Brough, Brown, Simons and Turnbull were all missing, while Hewitson was only fit enough to take his place amongst the substitutes. Making their full Fenham debuts were Sam Pilgrim at centre back and Niall Clerk on the right of midfield.

There were still a few regulars to give the gold and black a look of familiarity, with Pilgrim joined in the back four by Orkney on the right, Harrison marshalling things in the centre and Chris Thirlwell asked to fill in at an unfamiliar left back slot. In front of them, Danny Arkle was skippering the side for the first time; joined by Miller in the middle with the returning Stephen Smith on the left. Kevin Nichol sat just in behind the lone front man and manager-for-the-day, Michael Greeves. Leaving Chris Hewitson as the lone substitute and assistant manager.

The first half was a very even affair, with both sides having decent chances to trouble the scorers, over the course of the 45, the home side perhaps shaded it, but the Dynamo matched them in all areas of the field with passion, grit and determination.

This set the tone for the second half, with both sides eager to get ahead, but keeping aware that over zealous attacking could lead to counter attacks. The Fenham rearguard stayed strong, with Harrison leading the back four, his supporting cast didn’t let him down – Pilgrim looked assured and comfortable alongside him, with Thirlwell looking like he’d played left back all of his life. Orkney was his usual solid self on the right side.

Arkle seemed to thrive on the responsibility of the captaincy and was a constant voice, rallying his troops on the battlefield, his first mate Miller ran and battled as if his life depended on it. Clerk was making his debut in an unfamiliar right midfield position but bought into the Dynamo work ethic with ease and as such, couldn’t complete the 90 minutes, as a mixture of fatigue and cramp struck, bringing Hewitson into the game with 20 minutes remaining. Nichol also started to feel the effects of his boundless running, as cramp hit the trequartista, but he would battle on.

A succession of Benwell corners would result in a goal mouth melee with minutes remaining, with a push on a Dynamo player inexplicably resulting in a Benwell penalty. The referee judging the pushed Dynamo player had then gone on to fall into a Benwell forward, resulting in the award of the spot kick. Fenham players surrounded the ref, in almost Manchester United style, with Smith and almost Nichol, being booked. After a long pause, McIntosh ensured that justice was served and saved the spot kick, down low to his right. The game got slightly bad-tempered after that, with Benwell players sensing that their moment to win the match might have been gone, kicks on Hewitson and Smith led to a free kick on the each of the area for Fenham; as the fouled player, Smith stepped up and bent the kick around the wall, only to find the home keeper was a match for his effort.

Dynamo would have one final chance to win it, as a Hewitson diagonal would find his left side counterpart; Smith delivered a sweet cross onto the head of Kevin Nichol, who stooped to head for glory, with the ball heading into the bottom corner, the Benwell keeper pulled off another remarkable save.

With time running out, Benwell pushed on and ended the game with three at the back and four up front. Chances came and went but they couldn’t break down a stubborn Fenham defence; with Harrison and McIntosh in no mood to concede.

Eventually time ran out for either side to find a winner, ultimately a draw being a fair result over the course of the 90 minutes. Fenham will take heart from the performance of a patched up side, which played with heart, drive and determination. Arkle was named as man of the match, but in truth, it could have gone to any one of the 11 heroes in the gold and black.

MotM:

Arkle

Dynamo started the new season with a midweek fixture against the team that ended last season’s cup run, Chemfica. Keen to settle the scores after the meek performance last time out had allowed the away side to wander into the final of the cup with little effort. Fenham started with McIntosh starting another season as number 1, a defence of Tunesi and Harrison in the centre, with Richards and Stokoe at right and left back respectively. The midfield had a familiar look about it, with Arkle and skipper Brough in the middle, with Hewitson on the right and Smith on the left. Greeve was joined in attack with last season’s forgotten man, Mike Simons.

And it would be Simons who made up for lost time, with his header making it 1-0 after 15 minutes. An inch perfect Smith corner was turned home with power by Simons, a sign of things to come for Fenham.

Within minutes, Fenham extended their lead; this time it was a Greeve touch and layoff that found it’s way to the on-rushing Brough to fire past the helpless Chemfica keeper before he could even react.

With the score at 2-0 to the home side, Fenham knew the next goal would be crucial. Once again it was man of the match, Mike Simons involved as his perfect through ball found the break of Hewitson from halfway, the Dynamo winger took one touch to steady himself before slotting the coolest of finishes into the bottom corner.

All that was left was for the Dynamo to put the icing on the cake and that job was left to the tireless Greeves, who found himself one-on-one with the keeper and with the most delicate of touches, placed the ball under the advancing keeper.

Other chances came to extend the lead, but a 4-0 win was a very welcome result to begin the season for Fenham.

Goals:

Simons

Brough

Hewitson

Greeves

Assists:

Smith

Greeves

Simons

MotM:

Simons

A second game in 4 days came against last season’s league winners and the difference in opposition showed as Westerhope ran into a 4-0 lead at half time, with the difference in fitness and match sharpness showing in the opening 45 minutes. Eager to avoid a moral-sapping result Fenham went out in the second half more determined to give a realistic view of themselves. Despite conceding a 5th, Hewitson hit back with a long range strike from 30 yards to get the Dynamo on the scoresheet.

3 points and an even goal difference, with 5 goals scored in 2 games is a great return from a side that didn’t have much of a pre-season. Fenham will look to kick on again next weekend when they host Tyne View at home. Ticket details will be announced through the week, for what is sure to be a bumper crowd at Coxlodge.

Goals:

Hewitson

Motm:

Arkle

Dynamo Fenham wrapped up their league season with a resounding league double over Seghill as they cemented a 4th place finish in the table. Starting with a similar 11 to that which had been beaten 5-0 by Kenton before the Easter break; McIntosh was again between the sticks, with a back four of Orkney, Brough, in for the indisposed Simons, Tunesi and Richards continuing at left back. In midfield, Turnbull retained his starting place with Arkle, with the usual pair of Smith and Hewitson out wide. Kev Nichol found his dummy and started the game up front with Greeves.

It was the wide men who made the early impact for Fenham, after early pressure, going against the slope, a deep Smith cross from the left was met at the back post with a volley from Hewitson to set Fenham on their way. More was to follow soon enough, with the ball dropping on halfway, Hewitson hit an inch perfect through ball to send Nichol away down the left, who steadied himself before sending a driven shot into the opposite top corner to double the advantage.

Making it three before halftime effectively ended the game as a contest, when a handball lead to a penalty being awarded, which, Hewitson duly dispatched into the bottom left corner. Going into halftime three up, Fenham sensed more goals could be had and they weren’t wrong.

Continuing from where he’d left off, Nichol terrorised the Seghill right hand side in the same way as he had done in the first half, cutting inside to add a fourth and his second of the game. With both Nichol and Hewitson on a treble, the race was on to see who could take home the matchball; it was to be Nichol on this occasion, as once again he took on the Seghill defence and rounded the keeper to make it 5-0.

Seghill then added a consolation goal as a scramble ended up being fired past the helpless McIntosh in goal, before a sixth was wrongly ruled out for Hewitson by the referee, a decision that wouldn’t be the only one of note. Greeves completed the rout after being sent though and smashed home to make it 6-1. Moments later, the referee ended the game 15 minutes early, much to everyone’s surprise.

A cracking performance to end the season for the Dynamo and a real team effort, as the spirit and desire of everyone to play for each other and work hard shone through. Nichol was named as man of the match, but over the course of the 90 minutes, it could have gone to a number of the Fenham team.

Photos are now on Flickr here: Dynamo Fenham 6-1 Seghill
(as are all of the other images from this season)

Assists

Smith

Hewitson

Brough

Goals

Hewitson x2

Nichol x3

Greeves

MotM

Nichol

Having gone out of the cup 2 weeks ago to Rosehill, going down 2-5 with Fenham goals coming from Jake White and Stephen Smith, the Dynamo were back in league action following an international break last week.

With keeper McIntosh still unavailable for logistical reasons, manager Neil Stokoe stepped up to the plate and took the gloves and after 5 minutes it looked like it was going to be a long afternoon for the stand-in stopper. Conscious of attack being the best form of defence, the Dynamo stepped things up, Smith played Hewitson in down the right and his cutback eventually found the in-form Brown, to finish and level things up. Fenham moved on and were 1-2 up within minutes, another Hewitson-Brown combination led to a flick on by Brown from a Hewitson long throw, which found skipper Graeme Brough to finish inside the 6 yard box.

Tackles then started to fly in, with the pitch beginning to cut up and a few poorly timed tackles were put down to the conditions deteriorating, resulting in a free kick 20 yards out for Fenham just before the break. Smith stepped up and floated the kick over the wall, what looked like a routine save for the Seghill keeper, managed to squirm through his legs and into the back of the net.

Going into the break 1-3 up, the Dynamo knew the next goal would be an important one and unfortunately it went to the home side, a roving run from midfield ended up with a shot into the left side of the net that gave Stokoe no chance. With Miller and Fryer, who was to be replaced by Richardson, controlling things in the centre of the park, there was to be no more work for Stokoe to do. Brown was still providing a threat up front, with Richards and Brough holding strong in defence, ably backed up at full back by Tunesi and Orkney. Smith and Hewitson attempted to provide an outlet to the attack and it was Brown adding his second which killed the game off as a contest, putting the 4th away and ending the game as a contest with minutes remaining on the clock.

Fenham had chances to add a 5th, but the 2-4 scoreline was well deserved and a team performance from the Dynamo boys signed off 2011 in style.

Assists

Hewitson

Brown

Hewitson

Goals

Brown

Brough

Smith

Brown

MotM

Brown

The Dynamo got back to winning ways in this Calvert Cup group game, following a 1-1 draw away to Chemfica, last time out. A James Richards goal wasn’t enough to secure the 3 points, as Chemfica hit back late on to steal a point.

This time out, Fenham welcomed player-manager Stokoe back into the starting 11 for the first time in months. The sight of a returning Mark Fryer in midfield was a welcome one, with Arkle, Brough and Nichol all missing, either through injury or international duty.

Tunesi moved over to right back with Harrison and Richards in the centre. Richardson partnered Fryer, with the usual wide pairing of Hewitson and Smith on the flanks. Greeves started up front with Turnbull making his first start of the season.

It didn’t take the Dynamo long to get going, with a Smith corner inside the opening minutes powered into the roof of the net by on-rushing skipper, Mark Harrison. What followed, left the entire Fenham squad perplexed, a shot from around a yard away was fired at Harrison, with no time to react, the bal struck the goalscorer and the referee gave the most unlikely of penalties. To say it was a kind award, would be kind…

With Fenham rattled by the injustice of the decision, the sides went into the break at one apiece. But again, a corner routine came up trumps for the away side, this time Hewitson’s right wing delivery was met perfectly by Richardson to head home and put Fenham in the lead.

Another controversial decision allowed the home side back into the game, despite the linesman flagging for what appeared to be a clear offside, the referee allowed play to continue, with Seghill getting back onto level terms once more. Feeling up against it, following the ref’s comments that he didn’t see the point in linesmen, Fenham pushed on and deservedly got back in the lead, with Greeves latching onto a defensive mix-up to dink a neat finish past the on-rushing keeper. And Turnbull finished the game off with a hard, low finish from outside the box.

A well deserved victory for Fenham and one that saw the whole team pull together to grind out a welcome result, a real sign of the team spirit that is evident this season.

Assists

Smith

Hewitson

Goals

Harrison

Richardson

Greeves

Turnbull

MotM

Fryer

Following on from a close 2-1 win against Fawdon Park Development, Fenham made it 4 points in 2 games with a close fought game away to Seghill.

Falling behind inside the opening minutes, a long punt up field was missed in the centre of the Fenham defence and a Seghill striker was allowed time to finish past a helpless McIntosh. But not to be put down, the Dynamo fought back and a cross field ball cleared the last man, where Greeves and Hewitson were running into space, with a slightly better angle, Hewitson took command of the situation and Greeves allowed the Fenham wide man to lash home a volley into the bottom corner, leaving the keeper with no chance.

Fenham then pushed ahead when Greeves made it 2-1 in no time at all, pouncing on a loose ball from a Kevin Nichol pull back, to give Fenham a deserved lead, and it stayed like that until the break. With more goals seemingly obvious, it was Smith who made it 3 to Fenham, with a cross that he still swears was a shot… Finding the opposite corner when cutting in from the left to leave the keeper stranded.

Some dallying in defence saw Seghill awarded a penalty, which McIntosh was helpless to keep out, the game delicately poised at 3-2, when disaster struck. With only seconds remaining, the ball in his hands, McIntosh looked out wide for White, only to slip at the vital moment of kicking and leave the Seghill striker with the simplest of finishes to snatch a point.

Devastated, but Paul had previously kept Fenham in the lead with a couple of fantastic saves – such is the life of a goalkeeper.

Goals:

Hewitson

Greeves

Smith

MOTM:

McIntosh