Westmorland County FA ended Northumberland FA’s 100% record in this season’s Northern Counties Youth Championship when they were held to a 3 – 3 draw by a spirited performance in an entertaining game at Whitley Park, Benton.

The visitors had the early pressure and it was against the run of play when Northumberland took the lead after six minutes through Michael Waggot who ran onto a through ball to calmly slip the ball past Westmorland keeper, Stuart Dixon.

Within a minute, Robbie Dobson made it 2 – 0, tapping home a Mike Waite cross from close range.

If Northumberland thought they were in for an easy victory they were shocked, for after nine minutes Westmorland had reduced the arrears.

Thomas Wright produced a good finish from ten yards when a cross from the left was headed on by Max Shaw, and his shot went in off the post.

Laurence Stannard came close for Westmorland when he cut in from the left but shot straight at the home keeper, Sean McCafferty.

After 22 minutes, Northumberland took a 3 – 1 lead. An indirect free kick by Robbie Dobson to the far post was headed into the net by Wright, for an unfortunate own goal.

The game continued to flow, with some good attacking play, aided by some poor defending from both sides.

After 31 minutes, Westmorland reduced the deficit to 3 - 2, when Shaw driove in a shot from the edge of the penalty area.

The visitors continued to press for an equaliser, which came after 37 minutes. Stannard collected a superb diagonal through ball from Nathan McNeil, before hitting his shot across the home keeper to make it three each.

The second half could not match the first half in terms of goals and although both teams had chances, neither could make them count, with the two keepers rarely tested.

The final scoreline was a fair one, with Northumberland paying the price for twice throwing away a two goal lead and Westmorland showing how much they have improved over the last few seasons.

The Westmorland coaching staff, Mike Graham, Dave Pearce and Ian Bigland were delighted with the team's spirited performance.

The team go into the New Year looking forward to the games against Sheffield and Hallamshire, Manchester FA and East Riding FA.

Northumberland FA - Sean McCafferty, Richard Slaughter, Josh Brooks, Steve Robertson, Andrew Johnson, Chris Moffett, Mark Waite, Paul Chapman, Stephen Forster, Michael Waggot and Robert Dobson
Subs: Mark Hall, Michael Strachan, Ryan Irvin-Carr, Ross Barkley and Michael Richardson

Westmorland County FA - Stuart Dixon, Jackson Eatherden, James Benjamin, Graham Baker, Rob MacKenzie, Drew Lowe, Thomas Wright, Nathan McNeil, Max Shaw, Nathan Dixon and Laurence Stannard.
Subs: Dean Raw

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