Durham Challenge Cup Preliminary Round

23 September 2008

 

South Shields 2 : Bishop Auckland 1

After Extra Time   (FT 1-1)

 

Team: Peter Jeffries, Lee Foster, Arjun Purewal, Scott Richards (Martin Langley 13 mins), Neil Wilkinson, Gary Anderson, Lee Ellison, Joe Fairish, Gavin Barton, Gavin Parkin (Amar Purewal 90 mins), Keith Hutchinson (Dale Dunn 87mins)

 

South Shields edged an evenly contested Durham Challenge Cup tie at Filtrona Park with the winner coming in the first period of extra time.

 

The first half was largely uneventful, with Scott Richards going off early with a hamstring injury to be replaced by Martin Langley.

 

There was little action of note until the 44th minutes whe Parkin set up Barton who was just about to prod home when a defender toed the ball out for a corner.  From the corner Barton headed unchallenged but the ‘keeper tipped the ball over the bar for another corner.

 

The next corner saw Wilkinson glance a header goalward but the ball was cleared off the line by the defender guarding the far post.  The game was finally on.

 

On 47 minutes it was Bishops struggling to defend corners and Wilkinson cleared the ball off the line.  However, from the resulting corner Addison headed home to make it 1-0.

 

Just four minutes later Bishops were awarded a throw after Arjun Purewal had put the ball out.  In the confusion which followed, Bishops got the ball forward to Hutchinson who crossed for Barton to head down.  Ellison advanced and struck a low shot for his third goal of the season.

 

Another Shields corner on 70 minutes, and more problems for the Bishops defence.  This time it was Hutchinson who hacked the ball away from close to the goal line.

 

Barton and Parkin combined well on 75 minutes with Parkin firing in a volley which flew a foot wide.   On 84 minutes Bishops should have taken the tie.  Hutchinson worked the ball down the left, passing to Ellison then Parkin.  The forward pushed the ball through to Barton who chose to shoot from a tight angle, but the ball flew just over the bar.

 

Two more injuries before the game ran into extra time.  First Hutchinson was replaced by Dale Dunn on 87 minutes then at full time Parkin was replaced by Amar Purewal.

 

South Shield scored the decisive goal on 99 minutes.  Fairish conceded a free kick on the edge of the area.  Graham fired the ball in direct through a hole in the wall created by some co-ordinated shoving.

 

As the game moved through extra time, Bishops had some great chances to take the tie to penalties.  An error by the home ‘keeper allowed a Dunn cross to hit the foot of the near post.  The ball rebounded to Barton but he was unable to find an opening to shoot.

 

On 115 minutes Lee Foster inexplicably failed to put the ball into an open net after Amar Purewal had created confusion from a high ball over the home defence.  The ball fell to the full back eight yards from goal but he flicked wide of the unguarded net.

 

 

Fixtures and Results