Silksworth CW manager praises depleted squad despite Charity Cup exit

Silksworth CW manager Jamie Cole admitted he ‘could not fault’ his under-strength squad, despite their Monkwearmouth Charity Cup exit at the hands of Chester-leStreet United.

Cole was without eight key players as his side fell to a brave 2-1 defeat in the first round tie.

The hosts looked on their way to a straightforward win as Jay Gibson and Abduallah

Alawadhi found the net either side of half-time.

A Josh Winthrop goal gave Silksworth some hope of forcing the tie to a penalty shoot-out - but they were unable to find an equaliser as reward for a performance that pleased their manager.

He told The Echo: “We were so depleted we only started the game with one substitute. As expected, Chester-le-Street had a lot of the ball, but we had a goal ruled out for a questionable offside.

“We dealt with everything they threw at us, and we gave the same back.

“Their goals were two errors, but we could not fault the lads who were there for us because we can’t fault the work-rate they put in.”

Connor Gales plundered his way to a hat-trick as Farringdon Detached remain in the competition with a 3-1 second round home win against Shotton Colliery.

Wolviston also came through a second round tie as a Mikey McGee hat-trick and a Nathan Bayes goal gave them a 4-1 win at Washington United.

There were three preliminary round ties on Saturday and the most entertaining of the trio saw Windscale come out on top in a seven-goal thriller at West Auckland

Tunns.

Two goals from Kieren Fraser and one apiece from Reece Fretwell and Leo Brennan gave the Cumbrian side a 4-3 win at the PC Pavilion.

Johnson Ballan and Kory Whitfield found the net as Shildon Reserves came from a goal down to claim a win at Darlington Town and a Kain Reed hat-trick put Gateshead Leam Rangers on their way to a 4-0 home win against Coxhoe

Athletic.

Kalon Lloyd scored twice as FC Hartlepool battled to a 2-1 win against Darlington RA in one of three Division One fixtures to take place on Saturday.

Max Stoker and Kieron Richardson scored in Durham Corinithians’ 2-1 win at Richmond Town and an Alfie Turnbull brace helped Norton and Stockton Ancients win 5-2 at Annfield Plain.