West Auckland Town v Bishop Auckland

Recap

West Auckland: Wilkinson, Bennett, Wade, Potter, Hegarty, Stafford, Nicholson, Noble, Heslop, Jackson, Ellis

Bishop Auckland: Liversedge, Errington, Elgie, Risbrough, Burlace, Mills, Gott, Stephenson, Fairley, Weirs, Whitfield

Bishops paid the price for a lacklustre and at times sluggish first half at a baking hot Darlington Road.

Two goals in the opening 30 minutes converted by Jackson and then Heslop, both coming from crosses from the ‘West’ right-hand side, provided a mountain to climb for a Bishop’s side again missing a recognised central striker.

In fact, the damage could have been worse at the interval but for a diving Liversedge to divert away a goal-bound header.  Bishops did have a good chunk of possession but lacked any real width and instead chose to try and play through the middle at times without any joy.  The only effort of note was a weak shot that trickled wide of the post with Wilkinson in the home goal beaten.

Just a couple of minutes after the break Dale Elgie was forced off with an injury and Niall McGoldrick took his place in what would turn out to be an eventful return debut in a Bishops shirt.  McGoldrick almost gifted ‘West’ another goal against the run of play as he lost his balance but Bennett’s chip bounced just wide.

McGoldrick did give the Bishops’ fans hope of a rousing finish when he drilled home a shot from the edge of the box with six minutes of normal time remaining and was then sent off minutes later for a last-man foul.

Deep into the 7 minutes of time added Fairley made space in front of goal and drilled across a low shot which just missed the boot of a teammate to the despair of the visiting support.