West Auckland are missing key defender Jamie Middleton for their biggest game of the season.
However manager David Bayles has a squad of 18 to choose from as Dale Jardine has made a quicker than expected recovery from a double ankle break, to resume his place in the squad list.
Winger Kevin Bromley is also expected to pass a late fitness test.
WEST AUCKLAND 2-2 BAMBER BRIDGE
Saturday 13 October, 3:00PM, FA Cup Third Qualifying RoundMatch Sponsor: Smurfit Kappa (West Auckland)
Ball Sponsor: Alexander and Lauren Taylor
A late penalty and red card broke West Auckland's hearts as they were within minutes of reaching the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. Alex Porter's cool finish means a Tuesday night replay to see who will finally make it through to be just one game away from the FA Cup 1st Round.
A quiet opening saw both sides anxious not to make a mistake whilst finding out about the opposition strengths and weaknesses. The game kicked into life after 19 minutes when a corner was keenly contested in the middle of the goal with the ball dropping to Steve Williams, who from 6 yards, pushed his shot wide.
A minute later West responded with Garry Barnes headed over following good work on the left whilst in the 22nd minute, after Scott Nicholson's tricky footwork had earned a free kick, Brian Fairhurst's free kick was blocked by the wall.
Bamber Bridge had an excellent opportunity to open the scoring in the 27th minute when Ryan Salmon feed Danny Mahoney through only for Mark Bell to do well and tip the ball over the bar. The West keeper then did well to race out of his goal and challenge Sean O'Neil as he looked to take the ball clear.
Lee Ellison nearly set up Danny Richmond with a delicate through ball that was collected by keeper Terry McCormick as the midfielder looked to nip in. However Ellison's next ball saw him send Garry Barnes clear and the forward composed himself with McCormick coming out of his goal before calmly slotting the ball past the Bridge keeper to give West Auckland the lead.
The lead though was nearly cancelled out within a couple of minutes when a loose ball was capitalised upon with a resulting shot from Ryan Salmon tipped over by Mark Bell.
The second half began with Bamber Bridge pressuring from the off. They could have equalised within the first minute of the half when Alex Porter's cross was excellently blocked by Mark Bell from close range. Salmon then lobbed the ball over the bar from 25 yards after finding some space in behind the back line as tension mounted.
Glenn Steel headed over a corner when unmarked at the back post in the 55th minute as West pushed their luck. The luck then ran ut as Glenn Steel's long free kick forward was won in the air by Ryan Salmon and his header looped over Mark Bell to give Bamber Bridge a deserved equaliser.
With the visitors seemingly in control they pushed forward again and had penalty appeals turned down in the 64th minute when Brian Fairhurst's header back was nicked away from Mark Bell by Steve Brown who went down following the challenge, whilst the ball across the box was cleared by Michael Waller before a Bridge forward could capitalise.
It appeared there was only going to be one winner before West finally responded and stunned Bamber Bridge when they went ahead again following an excellent move. Kevin Bromley's cross was laid back by Garry Barnes into Danny Richmond's path and the midfielder drove the ball into the net from just outside the area.
The visitors responded by pressing again for another leveller although Steve Brown's shot into the ground bounced the wrong side of goal. Matt Mahoney fired over before Michael Heckley did well to block a shot, deflecting it away for a corner.
West though we always looking to pinch another goal to make the tie safe and an audacious effort from Danny Richmond from the half way line would have been a fine way to do this. Unfortunately for West the ball bounced wide as McCormick looked on, after he had raced out of his goal to win the ball from Garry Barnes who has looked to latch onto Lee Ellison's pass.
3 minutes before the end of normal time the returning Dale Jardine, on as sub, saw his shot across the keeper held and this was to be West's last chance to seal the game.
A minute later the game, West's hopes of another excellent home victory was cruelly dashed when Adam Tong fired the ball across goal and from 6 yards a shot hit the arm of Kevin Bromley on the goal line. Bromley was shown the straight red for a deliberate hand ball and Alex Porter kept his cool to blast his penalty past the outstretched hands of Mark Bell.
There was a nasty clash of heads into the 7 minutes of stoppage time with Scott Nicholson bandaged to complete the end of the game although the deep gash in his forehead required hospital treatment immediately after the game leaving him a doubt for Tuesday's replay.
1. Mark Bell, 2. Michael Heckley, 3. Brian Fairhurst, 4. Danny Richmond, 5. Scott Nicholson, 6. Michael Waller, 7. Danny Key (14. Dale Jardine), 8. Ian Maddison, 9. Lee Ellison (12. Jonathan Milroy), 10. Garry Barnes, 11. Kevin Bromley
Subs Not Used: 15. Bradley Woods, 16. Thomas Louden, 17. Stuart Owen