I was therefore relieved to find the Stockton Rosegale team minibus parked outside the ground and that the game was on, when I arrived at the ground half an hour before kick off.
This game was an absolute cracker and was a great advert for the competition. Bradford Sunday Alliance champions, West Bowling, opened the scoring after 5 minutes, when Curtis McMahon forced a cross home from close range. The visitors equalised 8 minutes later, when Jamie Dawson scored from a corner.
West Bowling regained the lead just three minutes later, when McMahon's superb shot gave the Rosegale keeper no chance.
It would appear that the Rosegale management gave their troops an earbashing at half time, as they jogged back on to the pitch, nearly 10 minutes before the hosts did. However, it was Bowling who nearly opened the scoring, when Jack Murphy skipped past a few players, only to see his shot hit the post.
Rosegale did restore parity on the 49th minute, when their herculean forward, Dale Bell, burst through and his shot was poked home from Danny Earl, who is Billingham Synthonia's top scorer this season, with 14 goals to his name.
There was some real end-to-end football on display now and Bowling nearly took the lead for the third time, when they had a goalbound shot headed of the line, with the keeper beaten.
Rosegale took the lead for the first time, when Bowling failed to clear a corner and the ball fell to Jamie Dawson, whose great strike easily beat the keeper. It was 3-3 just two minutes later, when Bowling's Joe Jagger got the ball around 15 feet in to the Rosegale half, looked up and fired home an amazing goal, which just dipped under the bar!
I think the winning goal was scored by Rosegale's Earl, although with the fog, it wasn't easy to tell. The last 20 or so minutes was goal less, although both sides still had plenty of chances. Rosegale's Dawson fluffed his hat-trick opportunity in the dying moments, when he lobbed the keeper but only just missed the target.
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