Jarrow Roofing suffer late heartache as survival hangs in balance

Roofing had taken the lead with John Campbell’s 40th minute strike, but Andrei Ardelean’s 86th minute header and Ben Dibb-Fuller’s stoppage time free-kick meant that the Roofers would remain four points from safety with three games remaining.

The South Tyneside outfit now have to play their remaining fixtures over the course of seven days.

Newcastle Benfield visit on Monday night, Roofing will then travel to Sunderland RCA on Thursday night before taking on FA Vase finalists Stockton Town next weekend.

After an initially rocky start against Team Northumbria, the Roofers started to build some momentum before being rewarded by Campbell’s goal.

Paul Gardiner had the ball in the net after getting down low to turn the ball in, but the assistant referee flagged for offside.

Liam Anderson and Lee Kerr continued to put pressure on the Northumbria defence, but their shots didn’t trouble goalkeeper Charles Murphy.

Roofing finally took the lead towards the end of the half thanks to a costly mistake from Northumbria. Midfielder Lulian Petrache picked the ball up in the final third after some sloppy play from the visitors before feeding it through to Campbell, who kept his composure to give Roofing the advantage.

Team started the second-half on the front foot as a deflected shot forced Roofing goalkeeper Shaun Newbrook into an incredible reaction save.

Campbell had another effort which looked destined for the top corner, but Murphy did well to make an acrobatic save.

The impressive Murphy was nearly caught out as Kerr attempted a lob from the halfway line which only landed inches over the bar.

The remainder of the second-half was uneventful before Ardelean levelled.

Moments later, Northumbria were awarded a controversial free-kick as Olly Martin was judged to have brought an attacker down.

The resulting strike from Dibb-Fuller was worthy of winning any game, although Roofing will feel hard done by given the context of the game.