Bishop Auckland 1-0 Hall Road Rangers
A very controversial 93rd minute penalty sent Hall Road Rangers out of FA Cup following an almost heroic performance at Northern League giants Bishop Auckland.
Massive underdogs Hall Road gave absolutely everything and were only beaten when Luke Bullement was deemed to have had handled by the referee, who can’t have had a great view from at least 20 yards away.
It meant Hall Road were denied the chance of beating Auckland in a penalty shootout as Chris Winn scored the spot kick.
Top stopper Jody Barford was responsible for making several saves for Hall Road in the first half, but it wasn’t totally backs to the wall.
Sam Robinson went close and so did their impresario Conner Harman.
What They Said
Hall Road Rangers manager Leon Sewell
“Where do we start on last night’s gut-wrenching defeat? Although we lost one nil to a 93rd minute penalty, which wasn’t a penalty, as much as the defeat hurts the effort and desire to play the way we did was absolutely superb from the lads.
“With an inch of rain falling in the first half and some dubious officiating going against us we had some good opportunities on the Bishop Auckland goal and on another day/night we win 1-0.
” I think what’s that hardest part to accept is that you would rather get beat 2 or 3-0 in open play than the referee give a penalty in the 93rd minute and not even discuss with his linesman.
“From front to back, back to front and the boys that featured from the bench, I thought we gave a professional account of ourselves against a team at Step 5 who are well supported with a weekly budget that’s three times ours.
“The players have set their own benchmarks this evening and I can’t wait to get them back out on the pitch for the FA Vase game in a couple of weeks.”
The Team
Hall Road Rangers: Barford, Ward, Whittingham, Piercy, Britton, Knaggs, Murray, Harrison, Robinson, Harman (captain), Finley. Subs: Boyd, Bullement, Smith.