Darlington & West Auckland Need Replay After Draw

Darlington & West Auckland Need Replay After Draw

Darlington and West Auckland will replay on Wednesday night following a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup.

the fa cupIt was Darlington's first FA Cup after being allowed back in the competition and in the end they had to settle for a draw.

Although on another day they should have progressed after missing several first half chances.

West however started brightly and went ahead after 10 minutes. A nice turn and finish in the penalty area by Dennis Knight put the hosts 1-0 up.

Darlington however responded and West rarely threatened for the remainder of the first half.

David Dowson saw shot was saved by Dan Lowson after good work from Gary Brown as Quakers got on top shortly after the opening goal. Darlington should have equalised when Adam Mitchell rounded the keeper, after Lowson had raced out of his penalty area, and put a goal on a plate for the Graeme Armstrong. However the forward allowed his weakly hit shot to be cleared on the line by right-back Neil Pattinson.

Stephen Thompson then hit the post before the half time break and Armstrong saw a header go wide. Darlington had to wait until the second half for their equaliser. Mitchell finished cooly after Dowson saw a shot hit the post. And a chance for Darlington to go ahead within a couple of minutes went begging when Armstrong met Brown’s dipping cross from the right, but the header was poor, the ball glancing off the top of his head and going wide.

The match became more equal after that with West arguably causing more danger in the closing stages. However both sides had to settle for the replay on Wednesday night.

West Auckland: Lowson; Pattinson, Wilkinson, Hall, Galpin; Vipond, Francis, Knight (Byrne 85); Briggs (Gibson 90); Richardson, Ward. Subs (not used): Ayers, Garthwaite

Darlington: Jameson; Brown, White, Hunter, Galbraith; Scott, Portas, A Mitchell; Dowson (Fisher 65), Armstrong (Hatch 65), Thompson. Subs: Bell (gk), Robinson, Reed, Purewal

Goals: Knight (10, 1-0); A Mitchell (49, 1-1)