West Auckland manager Peter Dixon reckoned that his team were “massive ambassadors” for the EBAC Northern League after they came back from two goals down to draw with Conference North club Harrogate Town in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
West earned a Tuesday night replay with two goals in the last ten minutes, and are the only ENL side through to this morning’s draw. Dixon said: “We gave Harrogate the shock of their lives,” he said. “We asked massive questions of a team which is three leagues higher than us in the national system. I know it’s a tough ask to win the replay, but I’m proud to be associated with this club after that display.”
The Harrogate keeper Craig McGillivray pulled off a couple of good saves, and his side took the lead against the run of play when a mistake by Neil Pattison saw the ball drop for Chib Chilake to fire past Mark Bell in the Auckland goal.
West were denied again several times at the other end, and they seemed to be going out of the competition on 74 minutes when Chilake ran at the West defence and scored with a 20 yarder.
But West got back into the game with ten minutes left, when John Campbell’s effort was handled, and he scored from the spot. They kept going, and levelled in stoppage time when Campbell set up Moffat to score from 12 yards.
Shildon started badly against another Conference club, Altrincham, and never recovered. They were nervously 3-0 down by the 15th minute, and after that Altrincham had enough in hand.
Prolific striker Damien Reeves was presented with a gift after just three minutes when he pounced on a poor back pass, beat a defender, and slotted the ball into the bottom corner. It was 2-0 when James Lawrie whipped in a free kick from the left that went into the net through a crowd of players, and then Reeves headed a simple third. Ironically, Shildon had more shots on target in the first half than their Conference opponents, but they could have lost by more if Reeves hadn’t put a penalty over the bar. The Railwaymen also finished with ten men after Lee Chapman was carried off.
Shildon manager Gary Forrest said: “We never gave ourselves a chance to get into the game. I thought we matched them after the first 15 minutes, but by then the damage was done.”
Spennymoor conceded their first goal in a competitive match this season, and they couldn’t recover, going down 5-3 at Trafford.
Micky Laws gave away a penalty that Shelton Payne converted, and then Paul Ashton scored from a rebound for 2-0. Payne then added the third with a 25 yarder into the top corner, before Moors gave themselves some hope with a header by Chris Mason just before half time, and soon after the break Kallum Griffiths pulled another back. But a deflected free kick from Andy Smart made it 4-2, and a missed penalty by Mark Davison proved costly as Ashton made it 5-2. Andrew Stephenson scored a 25 yarder for a late consolation.
Spennymoor manager Jason Ainsley said: “We weren’t at the races, and some of our players were still on the bus for the first 20 minutes. Players who have been exceptional until Saturday, had an off day.”
Bishop Auckland were unlucky to go out 2-1 at home to Fylde. Sonny Andrews hit the post for Bishops in the opening minutes as they played some good football and regularly opened up the visiting defence, but Phil Shead lost possession on the half hour, and James Dean fired Fylde into the lead.
Bishops scored a good equaliser when Arran Wearmouth beat several players and set up Andy Johnson to score the equaliser.
Bishops had their chances to win it, none more so than when Johnson fired over the bar from just a couple of yards, and they paid the penalty when Michael Barnes fired home.
Manager Colin Myers said: “We should have won the game. – we won’t get a better chance than that to go through to the third qualifying round. Our players have made the same errors that have led to goals before. I can’t accept people making the same mistakes again. I’m very unhappy that we lost.”
Whitby are the only team from the north east definitely through, beating Droylsden 4-3 at the Turnbull Ground, Nathan Mulligan scoring a last minute winner after Droylsden had come back from 3-1 with five minutes left to level at 3-3.
Blyth drew 1-1 with Workington at Croft Park, Tom Berj salvaging a replay with a last minute goal.
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