West Auckland Town 2 v 2 Bridlington Town
(FA Cup Preliminary Round)
By Alexander Fynn
Bridlington Town came from behind twice to force a replay against West Auckland Town in the FA Cup Preliminary Round.
The replay will be played at the Mounting Systems on Tuesday night (19 August) with a 7:45 kick-off, in place of the scheduled league fixture against Silsden, which will now be rearranged.
Jake Day started on the bench for this fixture as the club awaits confirmation of his injury sustained on Tuesday night against Knaresborough Town.
The hosts started the stronger of the two sides when Cieren Jackson broke away from his man, but his shot was punched away by Jonathan Dash.
Town seemed to struggle to control the game when defending, especially when James Hughes whipped a ball into the middle, but Alex Markham was able to clear the ball over the bar for a corner.
The Seasiders had a chance of their own when Ahmed Salam ran down the wing, playing a curling cross into Casey Stewart, but his first-time shot went wide.
Both teams battled in midfield with few chances for either side. Craig Moody played a low-driven cross into the middle, with Leo Robinson then firing a weak shot straight to Dash.
The home side, however, were the first to strike as Robinson opened the scoring. Hughes fired a low-driven shot into the middle of the area, and Robinson prodded the ball past the diving Dash.
Less than a minute later, Kasper Williams levelled the scoring when Salam took a corner; the ball met the defender, and he made no mistake with his header into the roof of the net.
The second period was a rather drab affair, until the hour mark when Jackson’s free kick was met by Josh Robertson; however, the linesman flagged for offside.
Jackson, though, restored West Auckland’s lead with a scramble in the goalmouth. The ball fell to the number 11, his first shot ricocheted off Alex Markham, and his rebound shot went firing past Dash, who was stranded.
With a goal down, Kasper Williams saw red from the official, as he was deemed to have pulled Hughes down, and the official was left with no choice but to send him off.
Charley Whight came close to equalising when Coulson and Adam Mitchell got into a tangle; the ball fell to Whight, but his shot went wide of the post.
Will Annan came close again from distance from Stewart, but his effort was fumbled by the keeper, although the keeper managed to recover himself and deny the visitors.
West Auckland skipper Ben Trotter also saw red to even the sides for a silly challenge on Allan, which was his second booking of the match.
Just as stoppage time began, Allan found the equaliser when Salam crossed the ball into the middle; Allan headed the ball into the bottom corner, sending the travelling support into raptures.
Mike Thompson said this after the match: “We’ve got lucky to get out of that; it’s definitely the worst we’ve played this season. I’ve got to give them some credit for the character they showed when we went down to 10 men. I think Tom Allan and Dicko were superb today.”
Bridlington Town’s away fixture against Ossett United has now been confirmed for Tuesday 2nd September, kick-off at 19:45.
