Boldon CA entertained Billingham Town on Saturday afternoon in the Northern League looking to put behind them their last couple of results.

Despite the two losses The Villa have played well without getting any rewards for their efforts.

A bright start from the home side attacking the Colliery End saw the first chance of the game fall to Smith whose effort went over the bar with just 9 minutes on the clock.

On 15 minutes Sutherland found himself through on goal only to be denied by the Town keeper.

Two minutes later a corner for The Villa found its way to Sutherland but he fired his effort wide.

The Villa looked hungry for the win but not taking the chances that they created has been the story of the season and when they finally had the ball in the net from Wilkinson his effort was ruled out for offside.

The first half remained goalless.

The visitors came out in the second half looking for a big improvement as they matched the energy of their hosts as both sides looked to break the deadlock.

Their first chance of note came from a corner on 59 minutes when Walker made a save fully stretched from a header at the back post.

On 64 minutes the visitors opened the scoring when Close scored within a minute of coming on the pitch after a lapse on concentration in The Villa defence.

The Villa went on the front foot once again without causing the visiting keeper to many problems.

A late free kick after good build up play saw Gateshill fire into the wall, whilst the rebound was fired over.

Full Time: Boldon CA 0 Billingham Town 1
Att:82
MoM: Johns
Lineup: Walker, O'Donnell, Smith, Palmer (Hart), Johns, Spence (c) (Gateshill), Heywood, Toward (Houghton), Wilkinson (Agostinho), Watts, Sutherland (Murray).

Next up for The Villa is a home fixture on boxing day in a Northern League encounter when Washington are the visitors to the Boldon Colliery Welfare Ground.