Whitburn Halt Saints Promotion Push

Two late goals from Whitburn put a huge dent in Willington's promotion hopes as the Quay missed the chance to leapfrog the visitors into 3rd place in the table.

Willington on the back of 5 straight home wins were slow out of the block and they were lucky not to conceded early on as Whitburn went close three times in the same attack. First Ellis Burns pulled off a great fingertip save before the rebound was blocked by Stephen King and the third effort crashed back off the post in a frantic 30 seconds of play.

The Saints then spurned a great opportunity to take the lead as Brandon Williams raced through on goal before choosing to square the ball instead of shooting allowing a defender to get back and deny Joe Connor a tap in before a brilliant block from the same defender denied Connor again.

Whitburn forward Joe Warren fizzed a strike past Burns but just past the post just before the break as the sides went in all square with a big second half ahead.

Warren almost put the visitors ahead with his left wing cross almost catching out Burns who did well to backtrack and tip the ball behind for a corner which when swung in was cleared to the edge of the box where midfielder crashed a shot off the crossbar.

Chris Tate replaced Williams for the Saints and with his first touch he sent Ross Thirlaway through down the left but after cutting onto his right his shot went high over the bar.

Another substitute Alex Foreman made an immediate impact as he flicked the ball on for Joe Connor to latch onto before being brought down in the box by Whitburn defender , Connor stepped up to smash the penalty home high into the right corner with just fifteen minutes to go.

The lead lasted just five minutes however as Whitburn got a deserved equalizer, Andy Smith curling in a quality left footed strike from 20 yards to level the scores with ten minutes to go.

With four minutes to go it was to be Whitburn who took all three points as Alex Chapman tapped home from 4 yards out after Warrens shot was parried into his path, Chapman's 12th league goal of the campaign keeping his side in the coveted third promotion place as time ran out for the Quay.

Another disappointing display from the Saints in a crucial game looks to have put pay to their promotion chances as an impressive Whitburn side put themselves in a great position in the table with 8 games to go.