Northern Premier League Division 1
Bishop Auckland 0 : Spalding United 2
27 April, 2006
Team: Tony Davison, Paul Campbell, Ian Blakemore (Michael Walker 80mins), Graham Low, Paul Griffith, David Spence, Dan Newby, Stephen Winspear, Martin Barwick, David Wells, Dale Mendum
Thursday was just the same old story with Bishops putting in a decent first half performance, but fading as the game wore on. But this game had a sting in the tail.
Barwick came so close to breaking his Bishops duck when his 25 yard lob was tipped over the bar by the frantically back peddling Spalding 'keeper.
On 33 minutes, Wells almost fooled the 'keeper with a near post shot which was flapped out for a corner.
Bishops should have gone in at half time a goal behind when Spence leant into the ball in the area and clearly used his arm to deflect the ball, but Davison dived low to his left to make a fine penalty save.
The opening goal came a little earlier than usual on 67 minutes when after Davison's initial save, Frecklington ran on to the ball and drilled a low shot into the net.
Newby almost brought Bishops immediately level when Winspear crossed and Barwick flicked the ball into his path, but his prod went agonisingly wide.
Chaos erupted when Spalding were awarded a second goal with five minutes remaining. An initial shot hit the post and was nudged in by Hargreaves who was standing a foot from the goal line, and clearly several yards offside.
The incompetence of the linesman infuriated first Griffith, and his needless booking for simply requesting the linesman's interpretation of his error raised tempers to boiling point. After a five minute spell where control was lost by the officials, the referee debated the situation with various Bishops players and officials. It was unclear who was added to the naughty list, but Newby was shown a red for his verbal outburst at the hapless assistant.
The match finally restarted and the final minutes passed without incident. Spalding celebrated their rise up the table to 20th as the officials left the field to hoots of derision.