West Auckland came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Billingham Town on a day when the EBAC Northern League was again decimated by the bad weather.
West have had a great run recently to lift them to the fringe of the promotion race, but it looked as if it was coming to an end when Billingham led with two goals by Luke Hogan before half time.
But West came storming back in the second half, and gained a point thanks to headers by Ross Colquhoun and Amar Purewal from Adam Mitchell corners.
Manager Gary Forrest said; “We’re happy with the point. It was a good reaction to come back from two down. Two soft goals to concede but I suppose Billingham would say the same.” West are now eighth in the table Billingham Town manager Paul Edwards said; “We missed three or four one-on-ones in the game, but conceded two goals from corners.”
Bishop Auckland lost 3-1 at Consett, to leave them in ninth place, while Consett move up to second.
Manager Ian Chandler said; “It was a very poor first half where we allowed Consett to score two, but if it wasn’t for Nick Liversedge it would have been four or even five. The second half was much improved and a more even game but to be honest the best team won on the day.”
Calvin Smith, Ali Alshabeeb and Dale Pearson put Consett 3-0 up, before James Fairley pulled a goal back for Bishops.
Northallerton lost 2-1 at Thornaby after being 1-0 up at one stage.
Assistant manager Richie Farrell said; “We were slow out of the blocks and we didn’t compete in the first half. In the second half, we took the lead against the run of play and then sat off. Unfortunately, once Thornaby took the lead we couldn’t raise our game to level things up. Thornaby were the better side.”
Northallerton took the lead through Andrew Shephard just after half time, but Jack Bailey and Kyron Clark hit back for Thornaby.
In the other game, Penrith drew their relegation zone clash with Seaham Red Star by 1-1 Only two second division games survived the weather.
Danny Earl scored a hat trick on his debut as Billingham Synthonia won 5-0 at Washington, while second placed Redcar were 2-0 up against Carlisle City at one point, but had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
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