Easington Colliery’s FA Cup run came to an end with a defeat at Knaresborough Town on Saturday.

Easington Colliery manager Olly Hotchkiss revealed his pride over the effort shown by his players after their FA Cup run came to an end with a preliminary round defeat at Knaresborough Town.

The Colliers came through a testing extra preliminary round tie against Northern League Division One rivals Whitley Bay to set up their visit to the Myrings Stadium and give themselves a chance of taking the club into the first qualifying round for the first time in over a quarter of a century.

The Colliers made a positive start and got their reward when the in-form Liam Cooke opened the scoring when he scored his fourth goal in as many games just after the midway point of the first-half. However, the visitors seized the upper-hand when Jack Degruchy grabbed an equaliser just before half-time before Aaron White completed the turnaround just two minutes after the restart with a fine volley after he met a cross from Slater Barnes-Cook.

The Colliers were reduced to ten men with the hour-mark approaching when Thomas Bott was shown a red card for an off the ball incident and despite enjoying some late pressure as they looked to force a replay, Hotchkiss’ side were unable to find an equaliser.

Despite the defeat, the Colliers boss praised his side for their efforts and believes they faced ‘challenges out of their control’ throughout the game.

He told The Echo: “I was really proud of the players because, without going into to much detail, they faced so many challenges that were out of our control and they gave absolutely everything! The pitch was really tricky and it’s hampered our quality but we were always in the game. We will bounce back but one thing I can say is I’m so proud of the effort.”

Results

Friday: Redcar Town 2-1 Bridlington Town Saturday: Ashington 2-3 Thornaby, Kendal Town 2-2 Heaton Stannington, Blyth Spartans 2-1 Morpeth Town, West Auckland Town 0-1 Shildon AFC, Consett 1-2 Marske United, Crook Town 0-3 Bishop Auckland, Knaresborough Town 2-1 Easington Colliery, Carlisle City 0-2 Dunston

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