IT was a tale of penalty woe for Northern Alliance Division One challengers Cramlington Town as they headed to Hexham.

For the host produced the winning goal from the penalty spot late on, only to be frustrated when they had a plausible appeal for a spot kick turned down.

The final 15 minutes were eventful with a total of three penalty shouts, the first turned down as Hexham felt Kurtis Harvey had been clipped by Town goalkeeper David Hansen, the shout weakened as Harvey showed great sportmanship to stay on his feet.

Yet they were presented with the chance to win it from 12 yards soon after, Scott Coates brought down in the area for Harvey to tuck away his second of the encounter and give his side the 2-1 advantage.

And that is how it stayed despite a late scare for Hexham deep into injury time, the pacy Lomana Dieu tangling with Scott Robson and crashing to the floor only for referee Christopher Seach to decide not enough contact had been made.

It brought an end to an entertaining fixture, Hexham continuing their great form to move up to seventh in the table with three wins from three.

They started brightly with Harvey denied by Hansen after just five minutes, before the striker got the upper hand two minutes later as he beat the goalkeeper to a teasing ball in behind the defence from Michael Robson to round him and slide it home.

Hexham were well aware of Cramlington‘s attacking threat and did well to nullify it for large spells, although Town did open Hexham up on 10 minutes with a great move which Victor Jefferson was unable to convert with his head.

The hosts had the ball in the back of the net for a second time on 34 minutes but Marc Nixon’s strike was ruled out for offside.

The game continued to swing from end-to-end at Cramlington‘s John Lowes was thwarted by a great last ditch tackle, while Dieu was denied by a brilliant save from Sean Heads.

Cramlington started the second half on top and levelled 90 seconds in, Sam Marshall pouncing on a loose ball and being allowed the space and time to pick his spot and slam home.

Teenager Calum Duncan impressed as he was asked to revert to full back to cover the injured Steven Coates, and he came close to registering as he connected to a tremendous ball from man of the match Tom Hacking, playing at right back, only for the ball to rise over the crossbar.

The game was on a knife edge but the glut of penalty appeals saw Hexham successful with one, Harvey calm in front of goal to earn his side the three points.