Newton Aycliffe travel to West Yorkshire this weekend to take on Bradford side Albion Sports in the preliminary round of the Emirates FA Cup.
The Newtonians beat Chester-le-Street 1-0 in the extra prelim round a fortnight ago to book their place in the next stage.
Albion Sports play in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division – the same level as Aycliffe’s Northern League first division – and beat Nelson in the previous round.
They play their games at Farsley Celtic’s Throstle Nest ground (pictured above), where they lost their first game of the season on Wednesday night, 3-1 against Maltby Main, to drop to seventh in their league.
Aycliffe also suffered their first defeat of the 2017-18 campaign on Tuesday night when they lost 1-0 at Seaham Red Star and slipped to 15th in the league table, following a steady start to the season, after conceding with the last kick of the game.
Local lad Jack McLaren made his debut in goal for the Newtonians, and he went on to have a fine match.
Stuart Banks had a couple of chances early on, but put both over the bar. But it was the home side who did most of the early pressing.
Aycliffe fashioned a good team move on 20 minutes, but were denied by an offside decision.
They were unlucky on the half hour when a shot hit a Seaham defender’s hand, but no penalty was given. Seaham then hit the post a minute before half time.
The home side came out well early in the second half and young McLaren was called upon to make two good saves.
Aycliffe came back into it, but there were few chances, until Craig Hutchinson hit a superb free-kick for Aycliffe in the 71st minute, only to be denied by the bar.
Both sides went for the winner, and it was Seaham who found a way through at the death. A free-kick hit the Aycliffe wall, but a goalmouth scramble ensued, with Davis getting the final touch for the winner.
