A bad injury to midfielder Alex Francis provided his team mates with the motivation to stun four times winners Whitley Bay 2-1 and put them into the quarter finals of the FA Carlsberg Vase on Saturday.

However, manager Peter Dixon wasn’t in the mood to celebrate knocking out the Bay, who hadn’t lost a Vase tie since the 2008 semi finals, and have won at Wembley in each of the last three seasons.

The game was held up for half an hour while an ambulance was called to take Francis to hospital with a broken tibia and fibula, following a challenge by Whitley midfielder Lee-Paul Scroggins, who was red carded. Francis had a three hour operation on Saturday evening.

“The injury to Alex has taken the shine off the victory for me, and I’m embarrassed to be celebrating,” said Dixon. “Getting into the last eight has come at a huge price.

“When Alex was being lifted into the ambulance, he said to the players “Go out and win it for me,” and they certainly did. They kept their discipline well when they could have lost their heads.

“To me, the health of Alex is more important than getting through. It was a very emotional day.”

There were plenty of chances in the game, with West keeper Mark Bell pulling off a top drawer save from Paul Chow, and Mattie Moffat and Micky Rae going close at the other end.

A goalless 90 minutes in front of a 1,293 crowd looked certain, until Mattie Moffat headed in Martin Young’s corner from six yards out. Whitley levelled straight from the restart, when Paul Robinson turned in Robbie Dale’s low shot to apparently force extra time.

But deep into stoppage time, Moffat’s header was blocked, but Rae was there to head in from just a couple of yards to keep West’s Wembley hopes alive.

For Whitley, it was the end of a 29 game unbeaten run in the Vase, the best ever in a senior FA competition. Manager Ian Chandler said: “Maybe one or two players didn’t expect to lose, but we needed to get in front with ten men to give us something to hang on to.

“I didn’t think that the tackle by Lee-Paul Scroggins on Alex Francis was malicious, and if it hadn’t been a break, then I would have expected a yellow.

“We were beaten by a last minute goal, but I’ve got no complaints, because we’ve done that to other clubs before. I thought that we deserved a draw after playing with ten men for so long.”

West are now away to the winners of the replay between Bournemouth and Billingham Synthonia, after the two sides drew 0-0 at Central Avenue.

Synners didn’t find the form that helped them win the previous round at Runcorn, and created only a handful of chances which were wasted by Danny Earl and David Abel.

And Synners had keeper Josh Moody to thank for an excellent save at the end of normal time to keep them in the tie.

Billingham Synthonia assistant manager Lee Tucker said: “Not having a game for three weeks beforehand didn’t help us. It was a really frustrating and disappointing performance, but with a young side, these sorts of things happen.

“But we drew at home in the last round against Runcorn, and then won the replay away from home. We will play a lot better in the replay, especially as they’ll have to come out at us more.”

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Dunston definitely join West in the last eight after efficiently dealing with Bethnal Green united to reach the quarter finals for the second successive season.

Dunston got off to a great start, when record scorer Andy Bulford added another goal to his tally when he scored a in a goalmouth scramble after 10 minutes. Lee McAndrew created the second on 29 minutes, when he beat a defender and crossed for Steven Shaw to head in at the far post.

Shaw created and scored the third himself, when he cut in from the right and scored with a left foot shot.

“We were 3-0 up at half time, but it could have been five or six,” said manager Billy Irwin. “We knew that they hadn’t arrived at their hotel until after midnight the night before, so we got at them straight from the kick off. It was a much deserved win, our keeper didn’t have much to do. The conditions were poor, but the main thing is, we’re through to the quarter finals again. It’s wide open now, and it’s great to be involved.”

Dunston are now away to Peterborough Northern Star from the United Counties League.

Ashington surprisingly flopped by 3-0 at Shortwood United in Gloucestershire, a big let down after their FA Cup exploits earlier in the season. They were 2-0 down after 10 minutes and never recovered.

Ashington manager Gary Middleton said: “I was bitterly disappointed in our performance. We never turned up and were second best in all departments. We lacked the desire to win the game.”