West Auckland were left to regret several missed chances when they went out of the Buildbase FA Vase by 2-1 at Stockton Town on Saturday.

West, who were one of the competition favourites at the start of play, wasted “chances galore” to go through after leading 1-0 at one stage according to manager Gary Forrest.

“We missed chances galore to win the game,” he said. “I don’t how we managed to lose the game. Even after they scored, we still missed chances to get back into the game. But credit to Stockton, they dug in deep to win the game with a couple of minutes left.

“That’s two cups we’ve gone out of in a week because we didn’t take our chances, and we should have been out of sight. It’s very frustrating, I can’t understand why we’ve lost.”

West had the better of the chances in the first half, and nearly took the lead when Nathan Fisher, who scored a hat trick against Stockton earlier in the season, fired just wide.

But they took the lead on 31 minutes when Ben Wood set up Anthony Bell to score with a low shot.

Stockton improved in the second half, and equalised on 72 minutes when Jamie Owens fired home after a corner came out to him.

The referee went off injured before extra time and was replaced as the drama increased.

The game looked as if it was heading for a replay until two minutes from the end when Owens again lost his marker and fired past West keeper Adam McHugh, to put them into the last 16 of the competition.

There was a flare up at the end of the game which soured the victory for Stockton, when a spectator ran on to the field and appeared to confront Stockton defender Dale Mulligan, and in turn that led to a scuffle, which ended with the red card being shown to Stockton’s Nathan Mulligan and Kevin Hayes, and West scorer Bell.

Stockton will now await the referee’s report before deciding whether to appeal against the dismissals.

In the other Vase ties, Newcastle Benfield drew 1-1 at home with Coleshill, and will replay on Saturday. Paul Brayson uncharacteristically missed an early penalty for Benfield, and they went on to miss some good chances before the visitors scored with ten minutes left.

Scott McCarthy levelled with five minutes left, and even though Coleshill had a man sent off, Benfield couldn’t break through again.

Marske’s home tie with Hinckley was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, and has been re-arranged for this Saturday at Mount Pleasant.