Bridlington Town 1 v 2 West Auckland
(FA Cup preliminary round replay)
By Alexander Fynn
Bridlington Town exited the FA Cup with a 2-1 defeat in the Preliminary Round Replay against West Auckland at the Mounting Systems Stadium.
The Seasiders started on the front foot and dominated much of the first half, but it was West Auckland that broke the deadlock after 8 minutes when Craig Moody latched onto a quick counterattack, leaving the home defence tracking back. Jonathan Dash came out to meet his man, but it was Moody who chipped the ball over Dash to open the scoring.
The Queensgate men spent long periods of time on the edge of the box, but despite dominating possession, it wasn’t until the 27th minute that Casey Stewart took a shot from distance, but his curling effort went wide.
Neither team could then get a foothold for the rest of the first half, until on the cusp of half-time when Michael Coulson went one-on-one with the keeper. Piotr Banda rushed out of his goal and his shot was saved for a corner.
The second half was like the previous leg and began as a very drab affair, with neither side having any clear-cut chances, until Will Annan found the equaliser when he tried his luck from 25 yards out and buried the ball into the bottom corner with a ferocious shot.
The equaliser sparked West Auckland back into life as they restored their lead from a free kick; Liam Potter prodded the ball into the bottom corner.
West Auckland almost added a third goal when Alfred Steel went one-on-one with the keeper. Dash made himself big in his area and managed to deny any further scoring opportunity.
As stoppage time began, Ahmed Salam whipped the ball into Charley Whight, but his header went straight to the keeper.
Bridlington Town did give a late push, but it was too little, too late as West Auckland held firm to knock out the Seasiders from this year’s FA Cup.
