On Tuesday evening, we welcomed Northern Football Alliance League Premier Division side Gateshead Rutherford, as we started the defense of our 2023/24 ‘Frank Pattison’ Challenge Cup title. The 3-0 victory against Whickham at the Stadium of Light was certainly a highlight from last season. 

West were missing Gary Brown, Jermaine Metz and Anthony Bell, with Adam Mitchell, Alfie Conway and Luke Bailey coming into the starting 11. It was a miserable night after a day of rain and fog, but there was no real risk to the game being played. The opening 15 was fairly quiet, with Rutherford having the first and best chance of the opening period. West soon settled into the game and began to dominate possession. It was during a 10-minute period West managed to score 3 goals. First, Alfie Conway got on the scoresheet on 27 minutes after some good build-up play. Josh Scott was up next on the half hour mark, calls from Rutherford for offside were ignored, and Scott was found in the box to slot away his first of the game. Four minutes later, West got their third, James Harrison getting on the scoresheet. West saw out the remaining minutes of the second half comfortably, and West went into the break with a 3-0 lead.  

From there, West were looking to see out the game, whilst continuing to press. Josh got his second goal of the game on 50 minutes firing in from 9 yards out. That was followed by his hat-trick on 63 minutes, bursting through the defense to calmly slot away West’s fifth goal of the night. Just before the last West goal, Lewis Ritson and Charlie Wood replaced Josh Robertson and Ben Dale. There were a couple of further chances for West to increase their lead, but there was a brief spell that allowed Rutherford to pull a goal back. A ball was played into the box by Rutherford and West’s Luke Bailey slid in to clear, the ball hitting his arm in the box in doing so. Ashton Wright stepped up to convert the penalty for Gateshead Rutherford, 5-1. From here, West watched out the remaining 20 minutes without concern. It was a fairly comfortable night which sees us through to the next round of the Durham Challenge Cup.

After, we spoke to captain Josh Scott, who contributed with a hat-trick on the night. 

“We started off slowly, giving the ball away cheaply. But after the first 20 minutes, we started to up our intensity and from then we controlled the game and that showed through some well-worked goals. It was important to get the winning feeling back as we have drawn too many games recently in the league.”

Full-Time: West Auckland Town 5-1 Gateshead Rutherford

Competition: Durham Challenge Cup

Attendance: 44

Match Report by Phil Dodds. 
Photos by Phil Sage.