Windscale travelled across to Durham in mid-week for their fourth consecutive away game.
Following their disappointing penalty shoot-out defeat on Saturday, the Atoms were again dismayed to lose a close game by the odd goal in five against Durham Corinthians.
It was Windscale who started the stronger of the two teams and their dominance produced a goal in the 16th minute. Matt Metcalf picked out Ross Leason who laid the ball across to Matt Sempill for a simple tap in.
The Atoms continued to make chances, with Ben Graham, Lewis Jolly and Lewis White all keeping the Corinthians defence on their toes.
The game was becoming more balanced with the hosts creating a number of chances. These were competently dealt with by the Windscale defence with Steve Walker, in particular, keeping the back line solid and keeper Ian Studholme thwarting a number of Corinthians efforts.
Corinthians levelled the scores with two minutes of the half remaining as Matt Stoker headed home from a corner kick.
It was the Atoms who regained the lead six minutes after the turnaround. A long cross-field ball from Jolly was picked up by Graham and following some interplay between him, Joe Phillipson and Leeson, the latter planted the ball into the back of the Corinthians net for a 2-1 advantage.
There was controversy in the 54th minute after a Durham defender swung a punch at Metcalf which fortunately he was able to avoid. It only resulted in a caution for the Corinthians player.
Further controversy followed when the hosts were awarded a penalty. The dreaded VAR would certainly have disagreed with the decision as there was no contact between Atoms keeper and the onrushing Durham attacker.
However, the referee interrupted the issue differently with Mathew Smith converting the spot kick to bring the scores level again at 2-2.
Play swung from end to end with both teams seeking a winner. In what had been a pulsating encounter, it was Durham who took all three points with a goal in the 88th minute. A Tom Young shot was parried by Studholme with Dan Weaver first to react and find the back of the net.
This was one of the Atoms best away performances of the season and they face another stiff task on Saturday when they travel to take on FC Hartlepool in the semi-final of the Monkwearmouth Cup. Hartlepool had inflicted a 5-1 defeat on the Atoms in a recent League fixture.
However, Windscale are a resilient bunch this year who will relish the opportunity to return to Hartlepool this weekend to hopefully progress to another final.
