CAMPION were just 28 minutes away from pulling off a seismic upset in the FA Cup last night at Blyth Spartans in the pair’s first qualifying round replay.
But after conceding an equaliser to their hosts just after the hour mark, the Bradford side’s task would made much harder when their keeper Brad Emmerson was sent off for bringing down opposing striker Billy Gordon.
And Blyth, who play their football two divisions higher than Campion, netted twice in extra time to secure a 3-1 win that gives them a home tie against Bury in the next round.
Campion had arguably edged the initial game against Blyth, with the BBC cameras at Scotchman Road on Saturday lunchtime witnessing a 1-1 draw.
But the visitors, who went as far as the FA Cup fifth round back in 1978, instantly looked more comfortable on home soil.
An outstanding double save from Emmerson prevented Campion from falling behind in the opening 10 minutes and it was one-way traffic initially.
Yet the Bradford side went in front completely against the run of play on 21 minutes, Nicky Boshell winning the ball on the left flank before squaring it to skipper Aidan Kirby, who made no mistake with the finish.
With Robbie Graham and Michael O’Brien becoming increasingly influential in midfield, Campion began to gain a foothold, but their momentum was halted when impressive defender Ethan Crossley was forced off with injury.
And when O’Brien was brought off at half-time, Blyth took control again, despite Boshell forcing a save from Harrison Bond with his long-range effort.
After hammering away at the door, the North-East outfit equalised on 62 minutes through Joao Gomes, who controlled Charlie Aitkin’s cross brilliantly before turning his man and putting the ball in the far corner.
It got worse for Campion with 20 minutes to go, as Gordon knocked the ball past Emmerson outside of the box, with the visiting keeper bringing him down in desperate fashion to be deservedly shown a straight red card.
Former Steeton stopper Jordan Moorhouse went in between the sticks thereafter, and helped the Bradford side take the game to extra-time.
Blyth were all over Campion in extra-time, and after Gomes had come close again and Harry Gardiner had struck the crossbar, they finally took the lead seconds before the interval.
The clock read 104 minutes when Gardiner gleefully tapped a low cross from Josh Norvell beyond Moorhouse and into the net.
The Campion stopper made a good stop to keep out Gomes midway through the second half of extra time but from the resulting corner he could only punch the ball half-clear.
It fell to Gomes, who controlled the loose ball nicely and fired it into the net.
And that meant the end of the road for Campion, who did Bradford proud over a mammoth 210 minutes of action across two games.
Campion’s rivals Eccleshill United won a remarkable game in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division last night, beating Beverley Town 6-5.
The game was goalless until six minutes before half-time, yet somehow the teams went into the interval level at 3-3.
Beverley edged in front just after the break, but the decisive spell came when the hosts scored three times in eight minutes midway through the second half.
The away side scored with seven minutes left to play on Eccleshill’s nerves, but the Eagles held out to win.
The hero of the hour for the hosts was Idris Atta, who helped himself to a hat-trick, with Marcus Harper, Mo Farhan Subhani and Talent Ndlovu also on the scoresheet for Lee Elam’s side.
It was a little more plain sailing in midweek for Thackley, who cruised to a 3-0 win at Goole on Tuesday night thanks to goals from Finn Donovan, Ben Grech-Brooksbank and Muhammet Tektas.
Silsden were in action on the same night, recovering from falling behind early on at Bottesford Town to claim a 3-2 away win, thanks to goals from Kayle Price, Mo Conteh and Tom Greaves.
Albion Sports triumphed by the same scoreline on Monday night at home to Golcar United, who had won every league game this season prior to this fixture.
The Bradford side shot into an early two goal lead through Sumaili Cisse and Nathan Cartman, but Golcar levelled things up by scoring twice in a minute just after the interval.
Cartman had the last word though, scoring in second-half stoppage time to secure all three points for Albion.
Farsley Celtic have just appointed former Albion boss Pav Singh as their new head coach, meaning he is currently the only British South Asian to be in charge of a side from the top six tiers of English football.
His first National League North game came at Southport on Tuesday night, with the Celts drawing 1-1, their goal coming courtesy of Danny Greenfield.
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