A 16th minute effort from Thomas Eisfeld at a damp Whitley Park on Tuesday evening proved to be enough to extend our winless Premier Reserve League run to eight games.

However that fails to tell the story of a night in which United deservedly trailed at the break before a marked improvement in the second half saw them come close to securing what would have been a deserved point.

Unbeaten in six games, the Gunners tested United 'keeper Jak Alnwick in the opening minute before going ahead just after the quarter hour. Josh Rees found space down the Arsenal right and his low ball in saw German midfielder Eisfeld turn neatly in the box before firing home.

The fluent movement of the visitors looked likely to punish United further but it was from a set piece that Arsenal almost doubled their lead - Spanish youth international Ignasi Miquel heading a corner off the bar on 30 minutes.

Newcastle regrouped at the interval and replaced the ineffective Yven Moyo with Marcus Maddison. Within two minutes midfielder Michael Richardson had shot narrowly wide and that set the tone for the second half, with a succession of half-chances made and missed.

Both Phil Airey and Ryan Donaldson saw goalbound efforts blocked in the 78th minute, but the closest United came to a breakthrough was with five minutes remaining, when a quickly-taken corner found the visitors more interested in disputing the decision than defending. Sadly though, Richardson's rising shot cannoned off the crossbar.

Despite their victory, Arsenal were pipped to the Southern section title after Aston Villa beat the mackems 2-0. The Villans will now face the Northern section champions to decide the National title and that team will be Manchester United, who will secure it with four games still to play, should they beat Newcastle in our final home league game of the season, at Whitley Park next Monday.

The Red Devils put six past us without reply at Altrincham in January and sit four points ahead of nearest challengers Liverpool, who have just two games to play (one of which is against ourselves on merseyside).

Biffa

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