Darlington Spoil Bootle’s FA Cup Party

Credit: Kate Tencza

Bootle take the lead in the 21st minute and headed into the tunnel 1-0 up at half time, only for National League North side to come back and win 3-1 to advance to the third qualifying round of the FA Cup.

By Brendan Doyle

After only 5 minutes of play, Tony Thompson made a fantastic stretched save to deny an Aidan Rutledge free kick flying in to the top corner which received a sigh of relief from the home fans. After brilliant hold up play from Courtney Duffus, he then laid off Sean Smith onto his weaker right foot but the effort blazed over the crossbar.

A Joe Woolley corner reached the head of an unmarked Lewis Earl who just couldn’t quite get the right angle on the ball which seen the effort go over the bar. Sam Hughes took a shot from 6 yards out but his effort was denied by which the rest of the Bootle players thought was a handball from a Darlington shirt but referee Ben Wyatt didn’t see any wrongdoing.

A blatant back pass was made by Darlington which referee Ben Wyatt for one reason or another, didn’t award Bootle an indirect free kick, absolutely bizarre! However, not long after in the 21st minute, Ben Hodkinson rolled a ball under Darlington keeper Peter Jameson to give Bootle a 1-0 lead.

Darlington rapidly responded with a header from very close range from Jack Maskell but his effort was valiantly kept out by Tony Thompson to keep Bootle in the lead. The first half ended 1-0 to The Bucks as they did extremely well to not give Darlington any time on the ball and also put the visitors from the North East under pressure in their own half.

Not long after the second half begun, Ben Hodkinson was booked for a foul just outside the penalty area, however Darlington made nothing from their set piece despite being close to Bootle’s area. Sam Hughes was brought down by a late and reckless challenge but once again, Ben Wyatt seen no wrongdoing and waved play on, just like he seen nothing wrong with the back pass in the first half, unbelievable!

After gaining the majority of possession in the last ten minutes, Darlington got their equaliser as Jack Maskell headed down a ball for Will McGowan to hit home and get Darlington back into the game. Will McGowan took a shot towards the far corner and managed to beat Tony Thompson to put Darlington 2-1 up, a good strike which paid off in all fairness.

Darlington once again capitalised on their momentum as Tom Allan latched on to a through ball and stuck his effort past Tony Thompson to put The Quakers 3-1 up. Ben Hodkinson cut in on his left foot to take a shot from outside the area in an attempt to give Bootle a glimmer of hope but unfortunately his effort fell way wide.

Darlington substitute Charlie Lennon attempted to widen the scoreline to 4-1 with a left footed shot but it fell just wide of the Bootle net. The scoreline would finish 3-1 to Darlington and that would see them advance to the third qualifying round of the FA Cup, unfortunately for Bootle they were shown the exit door of the competition.