Town boss Bolam hails players for bouncing back with FA Vase win

Hebburn Town manager Kevin Bolam hailed his players for bouncing back from their midweek Durham Challenge Cup quarter-final exit to secure a place in the last eight of the FA Vase

The Hornets boss was left fuming as his side threw away a 4-1 half-time as they crashed to a 5-4 defeat at Ebac Northern League Division Two side Birtley Town on Wednesday night.

That brought an end to their hopes of claiming a first Challenge Cup for 20 years – but Bolam’s calls for a reaction were heeded after his players scrapped to an FA Vase win over North West Counties League club Congleton Town on Saturday.

There was little to separate the two sides throughout a surprisingly low-key 90 minutes until Hornets midfielder Michael Richardson snatched a late winner as the tie made its way into injury-time.

Bolam admitted that there were frustrating elements of the narrow win – but was happy to see his side move on from the Birtley defeat to keep alive their hopes of two FA Vase Final appearances inside a month.

He said: “We asked for a reaction after Wednesday’s defeat at Birtley Town and I think we got one in terms of the application and the desire they showed to get through.

“The frustrating side for me is that we are a creative side but we are getting into good areas and the final ball isn’t there.

"But it’s all about results, we have managed to find one and we have got ourselves in the quarter-final, so we have to be happy with that.

“It’s been difficult, it’s been really difficult since we have come back from the break knowing that we have next week’s FA Vase Final against Consett on the horizon.”

Hebburn will face Warrington Rylands in the last eight of the competition after they came through a penalty shoot-out against West Auckland Town.

Gary Forrest’s side became the third Northern League side to come out on the wrong end of a penalty shoot-out against the Blues in this season’s competition.

The North West Counties League side took the lead on 51 minutes thanks to a Paul Shanley goal, but the tie was sent to penalties by an owngoal conceded 12 minutes from time.

The hosts held their nerve to claim a 3-1 win in the shootout and set up their quarter-final home tie against Hebburn.