West welcomed Crook Town to the Northern Metal Recycling Stadium on Tuesday evening. Crook has had a good start to the season, including a very decent FA Cup run which came to an end only this past weekend. Coming into this game, they were 8th place in the league, with games in hand (P9, W6, L3).

It was a perfect Tuesday evening for a game of football, mild with no wind in front of a crowd of 276. Crook started brightly, with their first meaningful chance coming after 11 minutes. Crook captain Daniel Mitton had an effort from a corner cleared off the line by Jermaine Metz. The first half was a largely scrappy affair, with both teams struggling to make a break through. However, that did come in the 21st minute. Two back to back corners from Crook led to an own goal from West defender Ben Dale. Dale looked to clear the ball from danger, but it was headed towards goal with goalkeeper Nick Liversedge trying to push it over the bar. Instead, the ball looped in to the goal. Crook had more control in the first half overall, with West struggling to break down their defence. Josh Robertson had a chance from distance just before half-time for West Auckland, which was deflected behind. Crook went into the half with a 1-0 lead, with all to play for in the second 45 minutes.

The game came alive in the second half, with both teams looking more comfortable in possession. With 53 minutes played, a Josh Scott dummy in the middle of the box, James Harrison took a touch and looked to get a strike on goal, but the keeper rushed out to block. Two minutes later, West were level. Anthony Bell hit his first goal of the season, and in style. Picking the ball up around 25 yards out from goal, Bell took a couple touches before unleashing a shot that flew past the Crook keeper. This created a much more open game, with both teams probing for a winner. The referee had already issued some questionable yellow cards earlier in the game, and another decision would set the game up to finish very differently than first thought. 61 minutes played and Crook defender Joe Thompson was sent off for a tackle on Layton Watts, to the disbelief of some. After his first goal, Anthony Bell soon found himself in another position to repeat his goal. With 68 minutes gone, Bell picked up a loose ball played out by Crook, took a touch and sent it into the bottom corner. Crook goalkeeper Alex Curran should have perhaps done better, but West took the lead. That lead lasted less than 5 minutes. Ben Trotter converted from a corner to equalize for Crook, who didn’t let the sending off affect their game plan. Joey Hope replaced James Harrison with 10 minutes to go, looking to help create some chances to get a winner. Gary Brown managed to get to a cross near the front post, but his header was sent narrowly wide. Adam Mitchell came on for goalscorer Anthony Bell just before the 90 minutes. The last effort from West came when Josh Scott played the ball towards Hope at the back post. He made an effort towards goal, but Curran got down to save. After a short delay, the full-time whistle came with both teams sharing the points.

We spoke to Anthony Bell after the game, on the back of his two goals which helped West take a point.

“Performance wise, that’s one of the best we’ve put in this season so far, but fundamentally we haven’t come away with a win which is what really matters at any level. As a squad we feel it’s 2 points dropped, but there are certainly a lot of positives to take from that going into Saturdays game at Redcar, which will be another tough test for us, but they are the games you want to be playing in.”

Full-Time: West Auckland Town 2-2 Crook Town

Competition: Northern League Division One

Attendance: 276