Chester-Le-Street 1

St Helens Town 3 TOWN did St Helens proud at the pre-liminary stage of the AXA-sponsored FA Cup in County Durham on Saturday.

The win sets up a TV date for the locals as Sky TV's 'Road to Wembley' will feature St Helens v Pickering Town at Hoghton Road on Saturday week.

Glorious sunshine embraced the whole match which began in AXA FA Cup tradition as both teams came out side by side with Gary Dooner leading St Helens out and Paul Bryson doing likewise for the hosts.

A good crowd saw Town dominate for long periods especially in the first half, but by the interval they had nothing to show for it as home keeper French made a great one-handed save from Laird in the 14th minute.

Earlier, the Town striker was perilously close to converting a move he started as O'Neill's low cross flashed across the goalface. Further shots by Dooner and Laird brought competent saves from French but although they drew a first-half blank, they had not been seriously threatened either, with a couple of free-kicks by CLS's Kirkham clearing the bar while tame efforts from Hewson and Bryson never troubled keeper Hollywood.

With Pennington having replaced the injured Laird on 40 minutes Town resumed the second half playing into the sun and this was a factor which led to a controversial incident in the 54th minute. Chester's Taylor totally over hit a lofted ball from deep but as it came out of the glare, Town keeper Hollywood strayed fractionally out of his area in making a simple catch under no pressure whatsoever but home throats bayed for his dismissal.

As no goal scoring opportunity was involved the referee applied logic and simply awarded a free-kick but feelings were still high as Kirkham sent it narrowly over Hollywood's crossbar. Town showed great composure and responded in the best possible way when taking the lead in the 59th minute when Pennington flicked on for Gary Bickerstaffe to nick the ball past Bainbridge's tackle and go clear to coolly beat keeper French to his right.

Minutes later Bickerstaffe thudded a 20-yarder into the keeper's chest with Pennington the provider but on 65 minutes Town had to re-group with the loss of groin victim Kelsey. Hill came on with Dooner dropping back and in the settling in period there was a major scare when Chester's Mawson drove a beauty against the upright with Hollywood airborne but beaten.

Despite the odd threat, Town's composure never flinched and Hill began to be influential up front, getting in a decent shot against all the odds. On 78 minutes Town's vocal following began to really enjoy the day as Steve O'Neill went clear to finish with aplomb and put Town two up but an off-the-ball collision involving Pennington and CLS's Wake incensed home ranks and a centre circle melee broke out before the game could re-start.

Given that Town had had the benefit of the doubt twice in controversial incidents it came as little surprise that Chester-Le-Street were awarded a penalty and Dyson was harshly punished for handling as the ball struck him high on the arm but Paul Bryson accepted the gift with the perfect spot kick to set up a tense last nine minutes.

Town responded in the best possible way by attacking, and great work by Pennington and new sub Cunningham forced an error out of nothing as home keeper French and Wake contrived a poor clearance and as the ball came in from the right, Steve O'Neill's first time finish flashed inside the near post and it was celebration time rendering the stoppage time as academic.

Bank Holiday weekend sees Town face Salford City in a 'back to back' fixture. On Saturday the two meet at Salford's Moor Lane, while on August Monday the Kersal based outfit come to Hoghton Road (both kick-offs 3pm).

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