FA Cup joy for Seaham Red Star thanks to win over rivals Guisborough Town

Mark Collingwood was a very happy man as he reflected on Seaham Red Star’s FA Cup Preliminary Round win against Northern League Division One rivals Guisborough Town.
Seaham Red Star.Seaham Red Star.
Seaham Red Star.

The two sides went into the game in contrasting form as the Priorymen arrived at the Ferguson Motor Repairs Stadium on the back of impressive wins against Hebburn Town and West Auckland Town.

But goals from Richard Coulson, Dan Wilson and youngster Morgan Dart helped Red Star put their midweek hammering against Newcastle Benfield behind them with a 3-1 win.

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The win was made even more sweet for Collingwood after his side were forced to play with ten men for the last 15 minutes after Liam Gillesphey was shown a second yellow card.

“We are over the moon,” admitted the Red Star manager.

“We have had no luck and we lost Anth Myers and Sean McRoberts before the game yesterday.

“We should have been out of the FA Cup at half-time if I am honest and I feared the worst when they went ahead just after half-time.

“We got an equaliser, but then when down to ten men, so you fear the worst again.

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“Guisborough have recruited very well, and I don’t know how we were still in the game.

“But credit to the players, they were fantastic because it could have gone the other way.

“It didn’t, we didn’t fold like a pack of cards, and we learnt a lesson against Benfield, so we are over the moon to get through.”

Red Star will be joined in Tuesday’s First Qualifying Round draw by Sunderland RCA after Stephen Callen got the only goal of the game in their home tie against Hemsworth Miners Welfare.

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A number of Northern League sides will also learn their fate on Tuesday after securing impressive wins at the weekend.

A late penalty from Dennis Knight helped Newcastle Benfield pull off a major cup upset as they saw off BetVictor NPL North West Division club Workington at Sam Smith’s Park.

Two goals from midfielder Nathan Mulligan put Stockton Town on their way to a 3-0 win at Northern League Division One rivals Northallerton Town and Hebburn Town will be in the draw after a Graeme Armstrong penalty earned them a draw at Pontefract Collieries.

Ashington saw their participation in this season’s competition ended by former Northern League rivals Marske United as a Louis Johnson brace and a Curtis Round goal helped the Seasiders to a 3-1 win at Woodhorn Lane.

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And two goals from Craig Hutchinson weren’t enough to help Billingham Town to a win against Ossett United as Tom Greaves’ brace put the visitors on their way to a 4-3 win at Bedford Terrace.

Ryhope CW fell to a 4-1 defeat at Bishop Auckland in Northern League Division One.

Jack Devlin grabbed a late consolation goal for Gary Pearson’s side after first-half goals from Andrew Johnson and Michael Hoganson and a second-half brace from Chris Winn had put the Two Blues on their way to a comprehensive win at Heritage Park.

Two goals from Martyn Coleman weren’t enough to prevent Penrith from falling to a late defeat at Shildon.

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A goal in each half from Danny Craggs and a penalty from Nathan Steel gave the Railwaymen all three points at Dean Street.

Newton Aycliffe fought back from two goals down to secure a home win against West Auckland Town.

The visitors raced into an early lead thanks to goals from strike duo Adam Burnicle and Amar Purewal, but it was Aycliffe that claimed an impressive win thanks to strikes from Dean Thexton, Johnson Ballan and Shaun Ryder.

Whitley Bay built on their midweek win at Ashington by battling to an impressive draw at Consett.

Adam Shanks grabbed the first goal of his latest spell with the Bay just before the half-hour mark, but the spoils were shared thanks to a second-half equaliser from Calvin Smith.

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