Whitehaven Amateurs went down 3-2 at home to Jarrow Roofing to lose some ground in the promotion race from Division Two of the Northern League.

Chris Hepple earned all three points for his side in the last seconds of this enthralling encounter at the Focus Scaffolding Sports Complex on Saturday.

As it happened many local supporters felt he shouldn't have been on the field after a crude tackle on Whitehaven skipper Mally Holliday. 

Nevertheless this game could have gone either way, and provided great entertainment for the watching spectators. 

Whitehaven surged into an early lead when Kevin Connelly headed home from a superb cross from Darren Donald.  Donald doubled the hosts score on 23 minutes with a sharp finish when a quick counter attack saw inter passing between Stuart Shaw, Connelly and Donald himself. 

Brian Miller made two excellent saves from Davison and Hepplewhite shortly before that as the visitors pressed forward in impressive style, and he saved the best of the day for another Hepplewhite snapshot when he turned his effort round the post. 

However, Davison made the most of a defensive mix up just before half time when he pounced to fire a low shot wide of Miller into the left hand corner.

At this point Whitehaven lost the services of the influential Donald with a knee injury, a major blow since he was causing panic whenever he received the ball.

Play flowed from end to end after the break, and both sides had clear chances to score, but it was Jarrow who levelled on 63 minutes when Burns fired home a scorching shot from the edge of the area following a half hearted defensive tackle. 

The lively Shaw was replaced by David Dustin shortly afterwards, and he almost wriggled through a tight defence following a Carl McGrady pass, but the ball seemed to get caught under his feet, and the chance was gone. 

Then Jarrow went down to ten men when full back Thompson was sent off, and Whitehaven pushed hard for the winner, but in the second minute of added time Hepple found himself in front of goal, and with no-one getting close enough to the fiesty midfielder, he planted his shot wide of Miller to claim the spoils.

"I'm very disappointed with the result after being in such a strong position.  We played as well in the first half as we have all season, but then conceded a goal on the stroke of half-time which changed the game and gave them a massive lift.  We now have to dust ourselves down and get ready to go again," was manager Martin Harris' comment at the end of the game. 

Saturday's game is away against Brandon United, who gave such a good account of themselves recently in their 2-1 defeat at Whitehaven, so it promises to be a good one.

Team: Miller, Lewis, Johnson, Lilly, Law, McGrady, Donald, Holliday, Shaw, Connelly, Robson.  Subs: Priestley, Hewitt, Dustin.
 

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