Dunston’s ten game unbeaten run came to an end at the hands of Coalville Town on Saturday afternoon at The UTS Stadium. After a battling performance in front of the 219 in attendance, it just wasn’t meant to be.

The visitors made a bright start to the contest as Tendai Chitiza fired his side into the lead after 18 minutes. Dunston responded well in the second half and the South Shields’ loanee Will Jenkins scored an equaliser for Dunston midway through the half after an excellent left-footed finish.

Unfortunately, the lead would last just a matter of minutes as Ashley Chambers put Coalville back into the lead. Chambers then went on to seal the victory for The Ravens with ten minutes to play as the striker grabbed a third for his side.

It was Coalville who certainly started the game much brighter and looked to assert their dominance early on. With less than a minute played, Tendai Chitiza found himself in half a yard of space and glanced a curling effort just wide of the post.

On four minutes, Dan Staples was called into action for the first time as he had to be switched on to keep Coalville out. The ball fell to McGlinchey on the left and he fired low and hard at Staples however, the shot-stopper was there to keep him out.

Despite the two early chances for Coalville, Dunston looked to cause problems of their own down the left through Jack Elliott. The winger swung in two good crosses inside the first ten minutes however, nobody was there to get on the end of it.

On 18 minutes, the deadlock was broken as The Ravens took the lead. A flick-on from Billy Kee, after some nice build-up play, fell to Tendai Chitiza who kept his composure and fired past Staples to put the visitors ahead.

The pressure continued to mount as Coalville continued to look dangerous in attack and they almost doubled their lead 6 minutes later. McGlinchey again causing problems and he struck the post with a low shot from just outside the box.

As the first half wore on, Dunston looked a little bit more settled and started causing problems of their own. Just before the half-hour mark, some neat play involving Mouanda and Jenkins resulted in the ball falling to Phil Turnbull on the edge of the box, but his left-footed shot was a comfortable save down the throat of Paul White.

After a similar attacking move just six minutes later, the ball once again fell to Turnbull outside the box, but once again White was able to keep the ball out of his net with another straightforward save.

Into the second half, Dunston began very brightly and had two glorious chances early on to level the contest. First, on 47 minutes, the ball fell to Jake Jensen from 25 yards out and the midfielder connected with a sweetly struck volley only for the ball to go just wide.

On 49 minutes, Fowler and Jenkins linked up with a nice one-two and the ball came back to Jenkins inside the box however, his attempt on goal sailed off target.

The game was opening up, and Coalville came very close to doubling their lead on 51 minutes. McGlinchey, who had been a menace all game down the left, broke away from Michael Pearson and cut inside on his right foot only to drag his effort just wide.

On the hour-mark Coalville again came close to finding the back of the net on two occasions as Billy Kee and McGlinchey both fired attempts on goal off target.

A sigh of relief echoed around The UTS Stadium on 65 minutes as Dunston finally managed to breakdown the Coalville defence to find the equaliser. Michael Fowler dropped the ball off to Jenkins on the edge of the box and the tricky midfielder shifted the ball onto his left foot and fired the ball past White.

Unfortunately, the lead would last only two minutes. With too many men ahead of the ball for Dunston, Coalville managed to find a way through after pinching the ball in the middle of the park and Chambers was able to scoop the ball into the empty net after avoiding the onrushing Dan Staples.

On 81 minutes, The Ravens had a two-goal cushion. McGlinchey managed to find himself in space down the left-hand side and crossed low into the box where Chambers was to tap home for his second of the game and all but guarantee Coalville’s place in the hat for the next round.

Dunston continued to scratch and claw as Craig Scott twisted inside the Coalville box before taking aim only for Paul White to pull off another save.

Ultimately, it just wasn’t meant to be for Dunston after a valiant performance and our FA Trophy run comes to an end. Next up we host Bridlington Town as The UTS Stadium next Saturday for a Northern Premier League East fixture.