Newton Aycliffe FC v Birtley Town FC

By Paul McGeary
Temperatures fell at Moore Lane Park, as did Aycliffe's impressive average attendance, showing less than 200 for the first time this season but the home side maintained their impressive cup form to progress to the last eight of the Durham County Challenge Cup.

The impressive Dion Raitt opened the scoring from the spot in Mark Wood's absence, firing high into the roof of the net following a foul on Dan Lennon after 16 minutes, the second of such nature inside 20 seconds with goalkeeper Jonny Hands lucky not to have been penalised first time round.

After 37 minutes Birtley were level, Nick Evans springing a high Aycliffe line to coolly slot past Ste Richardson amid calls from all around the ground for offside.

In the second half Elliot Gardner had a volley cleared off the line while Dan Robinson opted to round Hands rather than shoot past him when faced with a one-on-one, running out of pitch at the vital moment.

Hands tipped Anth Campbell's stinging 30-yard effort over after 69 minutes and from the resulting corner, Jonny Roseby failed to clear properly and returning skipper Paul Stout neatly volleyed into the top left hand corner from 15-yards to send Aycliffe into the quarter finals alongside the like of holders Billingham Synthonia and next-door neighbours Shildon.