The Emirates FA Cup rarely disappoints and Saturday afternoon at Bedford Terrace was no different as West Allotment were able to advance to the next round of the cup. A true FA Cup cracker.
Although it was quite an evenly matched contest, it was West Allotment who started off the brighter of the two sides. Two minutes in, Liam Beeston floated a cross into the box which was not dealt with by the Billingham defence. The ball fell to Regan Paterson who hit his shot on the volley but it was comfortably saved by Mathew Bancroft in the Billingham goal.
However, Paterson was not to be denied after six minutes as he was played in by Callum Larmouth and chipped the 'keeper to put Allotment 0-1 up - Bancroft did get a hand to the ball but was unable to keep the ball out. It is now three goals in three games for the Paterson since the beginning of the season.
The first half continued to be very tight with the only difference being the Allotment goal. Neither side was able to really grab a foothold in the game. Eventually, Billingham were able to find their breakthrough. Some neat play down the left resulted in a cross being delivered and Olly Can was able to finish off the move to draw Town level on the 39 minute-mark.
Billingham were not level for long as Allotment were able to retake the lead two minutes later as Rui Martins netted his first goal for the club in a competitive game. It was a high-tempo counter attacking move from the boys in green. Thompson's through-ball found the feet of Martins who was able to fire home from the edge of the box. Again, it may have been slightly fortunate as the goalkeeper will be disappointed he didn't keep it out.
The second half began with Allotment 1-2 up. Billingham Town also made a change at half time as Danny Earl replaced Harry Close. Town were able to draw level in the game for the second time just five minutes after the second half had begun.
Danny Boyle was the man with the goal as his header found the back of the net after Allotment were unable to deal with a cross into the box from a freekick. The score was 2-2 after 50 minutes.
For large parts of the second half, the game was playing very similar to the first half. Allotment made three changes Shane Jones, Michael Trodd and Dean Walker all coming on for debutant Gee Baltazar, Liam Beeston and Callum Larmouth.
With 15 minutes to go, it became apparent that tensions were starting to boil over. In the space of a couple of minutes, both Trodd and Martins were dished out yellow cards from the referee. It then got even worse with 10 minutes to go.
There was a coming together of two players which led to their dismissal. Gilberto Chapim and Danny Earl were the two men to be sent off. Ultimately, this led to a penalty for the home side.
Mathew Garbutt stepped up but was denied by a brilliant save from Finn Hodgson. Hodgson guessed the right way and pulled off a great stop to keep the score at 2-2. Rather unbelievably, that was not the end of the drama for the afternoon.
Another goalkeeping error from the Town goalkeeper led to second half substitute Dean Walker picking up the scraps and he won't score many easier goals. Walker was left with an open goal to tap into and he did just that with minutes to go.
West Allotment were able to hold out for the victory and leave Billingham Town as 2-3 winners. The win for Allotment means that we are now into the next round of the FA Cup, the Preliminary Round. We will face the winners of Tuesday night's replay between North Ferriby and Whitley Bay at home on the weekend of the 20/08/21.
Billingham Town: Bancroft, Cann, Snaith, Taylor, Risbrough, Verity, Gooch (Lavan 63'), Boyle, Close (Earl 46'), Garbutt, Webster
Goals: Cann (39'), Boyle (50')
West Allotment: Hodgson, Baltazar (Jones 68'), Parkinson, Beeston (Trodd 74'), Scott (c), Williams, Paterson, Chapim, Larmouth (Walker 60'), Thompson, Martins
Goals: Paterson (6'), Martins (41'), Walker (87')
Attendance: 104
Club photography: Graeme Jackson