Dunston were cruelly knocked out of the FA Trophy 1st Round on penalties at Marine, in a game that was suspended by over forty minutes due to floodlight failure early in the second half.

A spirited Dunston fought back from two goals down to force penalties, with Sado Djalo and Lee Mason cancelling out Marine goals from Ryan Wignall and Lewis Reilly.

In a fairly uneventful first half, the only big chance went to Dunston. A Michael Pearson cross was met by Sado Djalo, but his header was brilliantly kept out by Marine keeper Bayleigh Passant to keep the scores level. Liam Thear had a number of half chances, but neither troubled Passant and the teams went in level at the break.

Just five minutes into the second half, the lights switched off. Phil Turnbull, who as of writing this is now a twitter sensation, briefly swapped being the non-league Iniesta for a sparky as he tried to provide a fix for the faulty lights. After a lengthy delay in which Dunston started trending globally and even got a mention on sky sports, play finally resumed on 51 minutes. Social Media was in meltdown but Dunston still had a game to win.

However, soon after the restart, Marine surged into a two goal lead. After Connell had made a great stop to deny a low drilled shot from full back Barrigan just before, Ben Hughes took aim from the edge of the box, and his shot cannoned off the post before falling to Ryan Wignall to tap in for the first goal. Not long after, it was two, this time Lewis Reilly took a speculative shot from 25 yards out which beat Liam Connell to send the hosts into a two goal lead.

Despite the setback, Dunston’s fighting spirit showed, first Sado Djalo headed in from a Craig Baxter cross following great endeavour down the right flank. Then, with five minutes to play, a flowing team move down the left allowed the ball to find Lee Mason, who drove home from the edge of the box past Passant to force penalties at the very least.

Dunston continued to push for a winner, and Barrigan was shown his marching orders for a rash challenge on Craig Baxter as Marine started flagging.

With penalties level on 4-4 following goals from Djalo, Heslop, Hall and Turnbull, Lee Mason then blazed over for Dunston, giving Niall Cummins the chance to win it for the hosts. He calmly converted to send Marine into the next round, a cruel way for Dunston to exit but super fighting spirit shown to force penalties. All focus is now on the league, with Stocksbridge Park Steels the next visitors to the UTS Engineering stadium next Saturday.

Dunston UTS FC Man of the Match: Dan Capewell

Dan Capewell is kindly sponsored by:

Home shirt - Jimmy Souley

Away shirt - Billy Irwin Painter and Decorator

3rd shirt -Dunston UTS FC Supporters Club - Youth Section.

Training kit - Christina Shell.