2011/12: Evo-Stik NPL Division One North – Garforth Town v Radcliffe Borough

Whilst the football community in the United Kingdom was still coming to terms with the tragic death of Gary Speed, another legend of the game passed away in Brazil. Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira (or as the football world knew him “Sócrates”), died in Sao Paulo aged 57 on 04 December 2011. It is a strange and sad fact of life that only in death are the lives of people often told. Away from the football field Sócrates’ was a qualified medical doctor and he practised once he retired from football. In addition, he was very interested in politics and economics and was a co-founder of The Corinthians’ Democracy, which was set-up to challenge the dictatorial way football clubs and indeed the Brazilian Military Government operated. He had his vices too and enjoyed a drink and a smoke (quoted as a two packet a day man), even during his playing days.

Like another famous footballing-smoker, Johan Cruyff, Sócrates was considered one of the greatest players in the world and as with the Dutchman never won a World Cup. Sócrates played in two World Cup tournaments (Spain 1982 and Mexico 1986) and counted amongst his clubs Botafogo, Corinthians, Fiorentina, Flamengo and Santos. However, Sócrates came out of retirement in November 2004 and at the age of 50, in a blaze of publicity, turned out for Garforth Town against Tadcaster Albion. The Brazilian played for 12 second half minutes in a 2-2 draw in a season which saw Garforth promoted from the Northern Counties East League (NCEL) Division One.

During his very brief time with The Miners, Sócrates made his mark on the West Yorkshire club and at the fixture against Radcliffe Borough today, Garforth paid their respects to the Brazilian. The players warmed up in yellow t-shirts featuring a picture of Sócrates and before kick-of there was a minute’s silence/applause as a wreath was laid. In the match-day programme, Garforth Chairman Simon Clifford paid tribute to Sócrates, saying that the Brazilian had, “…brought a kind of magic. The club was almost bankrupt, but he (Sócrates) became part of our crusade for promotion. He was the most intelligent man in football I’ve ever met…We have lost a unique man and a unique footballer…”

Sócrates would no doubt have chuckled today at the freezing and squally conditions in which the game took place today. He struggled badly with the cold temperature back in 2004, and he would have done so again today. Both sides came into this game on the back of decent runs. Garforth had won three of their last four League games to move into seventh in the table. Whilst Radcliffe Borough had won their last three League fixtures, including an incredible 10-3 victory at Harrogate Railway Athletic. With two sides in confident mood it made for an open first half. Both sides had good chances to score, with Garforth keeper Jack Lonergan in outstanding form to deny Radcliffe striker Ben Wharton on a couple of occasions. Wharton led the Borough line well, although he didn’t endear himself to the home fans with his no-nonsense battling centre-forward display. Indeed the Radcliff number nine was booked for one such tangle with Darren Kelly, much to the delight of the Town fans. Despite the better chances for the visitors, Garforth took the lead just before the half-time whistle. From an Oliver Hotchkiss corner, Rob Pacey rose to head in and send The Miners in at the break with a 1-0 lead.

Garforth started the second-half more impressively than the visitors, but were unable to increase their lead. Their best chance was a breakaway in which Town had a three-on-one situation, but they contrived to delay the killer ball and the resultant Hotchkiss shot was high and wide. Radcliffe took advantage of this miss and on fifty seven minutes levelled the scores after Garforth conceded a free-kick just outside the box. Up stepped Dave Sherlock who curled it delightfully into the net. Wharton continued to give the home defenders problems and on seventy minutes he showed great skill with a lovely pass which sent Steve Burke through to finish coolly past Lonergan for a 2-1 lead. The Miners responded with concerted pressure as the game went into its final quarter and it looked like it had paid off when Town were awarded a penalty with two minutes to go. As a result Radcliffe had Kris King sent off for hand-ball, but Paul Walker could only hit the post from the penalty spot. Garforth had one more chance to snatch a point, but the resultant shot from Darren Kelly cleared the Borough bar. At the whistle, Radcliffe celebrated a fourth successive League victory, whilst Garforth were left with their memories of the day that Sócrates graced this part of West Yorkshire.

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2011/12: FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round – FC Halifax Town v Tadcaster Albion

Back in August I started my FA Cup adventure at Hemsworth Miners Welfare and their Preliminary Qualifying tie against Tadcaster Albion. Whilst in the next two rounds I was watching Garforth Town beat Sheffield FC and then lose to Frickley Athletic, Tadcaster progressed with victories over Pontefract Collieries and Scarborough Athletic. The draw for the 2nd Qualifying Round had Albion make the trip to The Shay Stadium to take on FC Halifax Town, so I decided to take up my Cup trail with The Brewers once more.

Along with Staveley Miners Welfare, Tadcaster Albion were the last of the (Baris) Northern Counties East League (NCEL) representatives in the Cup. In terms of League form, Albion lost their opening two fixtures, but have been unbeaten in their other five games to date. Their last League game saw three points snatched away in the dying minutes of the game as Parkgate scored to grab a 3-3 draw.

For The Shaymen, it has been a bit of a bumpy ride since their promotion to the (Blue Square) Conference North Division. On the opening day of the season Town suffered a 3-1 home loss to Corby Town and their last home fixture was an even more emphatic home defeat as they lost 5-1 to ten-man Vauxhall FC. However, in their last couple of fixtures Halifax have shown what they are capable of when coming back from 3-1 at half-time to beat Guiseley 4-3 at Nethermoor and then securing a 0-0 draw at Harrogate Town.

It was hard to believe as I entered the ground that it was the first day of October. With blue skies and high temperatures, the unseasonal weather gave the stadium a feel of a venue about to host a preseason friendly rather than a Cup tie. Indeed, despite a crowd of 1,002, there was very little atmosphere. This may have been due to the apprehension of the home crowd at the prospect of a giant-killing act by the visitors, combined with memories of the mauling by Vauxhall in the last fixture here.

Tadcaster were certainly not over-awed in the opening exchanges and as early as the third minute forced a good save from Town keeper Simon Eastwood. Halifax began to settle into the game as they dominated possession, however, this was not really turned into chances that worked Albion custodian Arran Reid apart from one excellent double-save from the young keeper. With frustration evident in the crowd as The Shaymen failed to break down the visitors, the home fans were stunned on the half hour mark when from an Albion corner was headed home by Carl Stewart to put Tadcaster ahead. The remainder of the half saw Halifax continue their domination of possession without really stretching The Brewers defence. Half-time came and Town returned to the dressing room with a real air of discontent amongst the Shay faithful.

Home manager Neil Aspin responded by replacing Anton Foster with Scott Hogan at the start of the second half as Town continued to toil away in the Yorkshire sun. Further substitutions came on the hour as James Dean replaced Danny Holland up front. However, the visitors looked relatively untroubled and with seventy five minutes gone, Aspin threw on recent signing Jason St Juste. His introduction gave Halifax a real threat of pace, but with ten minutes remaining it looked like the visitors would still hang on to their lead. Then on 81 minutes St Juste got down the wing and his cross was headed home by fellow substitute James Dean, which at last brought some noise from the home crowd. This changed the whole complexion of the game and suddenly the home players and fans could sense that perhaps a winner was still possible. However, as the ninety minutes ticked away the visitors had a good shout for a penalty turned down and it seemed that Albion had done enough to earn a replay. Four minutes of added time were indicated and these were all but up when Town were awarded a corner. From it Scott McManus headed home and cue celebrations from relieved home fans and bench. As the Albion plays slumped in exhaustion and disbelief, keeper Reid remonstrated with the Assistant referee, claiming that the corner award was incorrect, but merely earned a booking for his troubles. The Brewers kicked-off and launched one final ball into the Halifax penalty area, but it was game over and their brave Cup adventure was over.

It was a fantastic effort by Tadcaster and certainly Halifax knew that they had been in a game. Tadcaster have the FA Vase to look forward to in November and will relish it after their FA Cup campaign. For Halifax, they go into the draw for the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round on Monday (3rd October), knowing that it was a last gasp victory, but hoping that this might be the start of something special.

Postscript: At the Tech5 Stadium, Frickley Athletic were up against Harrogate Town. Visitors Town started brightly and took the lead through Will Turl. Frickley worked their way back into the game and just before half-time equalised through Grant Darley. The replay takes place at the CNG Stadium in Harrogate on Tuesday 4th October (kick-off 7.45pm).

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2010/11: NCEL Div 1 – Leeds Carnegie v Glasshoughton Welfare

If you study the names of the teams currently within the two divisions of the NCEL, the terms, “Main”, “Collieries” or “Miners Welfare” appear and gave a massive clue as to the origination of the formation of a number of the clubs and specifically their mining roots. There are a number of exceptions of course and one of these is Leeds Carnegie FC, which is essentially the Leeds Metropolitan University first team. As a result their history is different to many of their league counterparts and I’m grateful to the Leeds Met, Leeds Carnegie FC websites and Wikepedia for information regarding the clubs background.

The team was originally called Leeds & Carnegie College F.C. and was founded in 1970. Their first nine years were spent in the Yorkshire Football League structure and in their first season Carnegie won the Division Three title. Success came their way again when in 1972-73 the club became Division Two Champions. The seventies also saw Carnegie have their best run in the FA Vase during the 1976-77 season, when they reached the Fourth Round before going out to Newcastle Blue Star 1-0.

In 1980, Carnegie left the Yorkshire League in favour of the Northern Universities League (NUL) . This period also saw a name change with the team known  as Leeds Polytechnic. The Poly had a 14 year stint in the NUL and was a period of great success. The Premier Division title was captured on nine occasions (1980/81, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1988/89, 1991/92, 1994/95, 2000/01, 2002/03 and 2003/04) as well as the NUL League Cup in 1999/2000 2002/03. In 1992 Leeds Polytechnic became  Leeds Metropolitan University and as a result the football club name was changed to Leeds Met Carnegie.

In 2004 Carnegie left the NUL for the West Yorkshire League, (part of the English football pyramid – the Premier Division is at Level 11) and were crowned champions of the Premier Division in 2005-06. The club was denied promotion as they didn’t have a ground up to the required standards. However, Carnegie were able to step up to the NCEL Division One in 2006-07 when they agreed to play at the home of Farsley at Throstle Nest.

As 2011 dawned Carnegie found themselves holding a mid-table position but were hit with the news in January that manager Graham Potter intended to leave to take over Osterund FK in Sweden. The club wasted no time in appointing Mark Macrow as his replacement with James Earl as his assistant.

The fixture against fellow mid-table side Glasshoughton Welfare in early February gave me the chance to see if team had been affected by the change in manager. So far on my Non League travels this season I’ve been impressed by the set-up at the various grounds and clubs I have visited. However this Saturday was a little disappointing. The reason for this? Well, it comes down to issues around the programme and lack of match day announcer. In the case of the programme, I expect to see brief pen-pictures of the opposition rather than those of the home squad. Unfortunately those provided for the Carnegie team were in my opinion not appropriate for this level of football and did not portray a professional bearing, given that there were loaded with comments which maybe fine in the dressing-room, but which meant little to the paying public. Also, the programme contained the respective squads and not team line-ups. Now this is fine, as long as there is an announcement of the team line-ups so that the crowd know who is playing. Unfortunately on Saturday, this didn’t happen and it did take away some of the enjoyment of watching, in that I was unable to identify who was who.

Of the game itself, Carnegie throughout tried to keep the ball on the ground, but were ultimately undone by being reduced to 10 men in the first-half. In a game of few chances, Carnegie looked like they might be able to get a point from the game when with 15 minutes to go the score was still level at 0-0. However, the deadlock was broken on 78 minutes when Damion Liddle latched onto a through ball to seal the win for the visitors. On balance I thought Glasshoughton just about shaded it, although Carnegie put in a brave display.

 Leeds Carnegie reported the match as follows:

10 Men Carnegie Just Fall Short

Despite a spirited performance for a character filled 10 men, Carnegie were just short of holding Glasshoughton to a draw – and could have won it!

Leeds Carnegie were put under pressure early by Glasshoughton whose physical approach saw defender Scott McGrory have to leave Throstle Nest with a suspected broken ankle in just the second minute.

 This lead to a physical, scrappy game with Carnegie being error bound which opened up two early chances for Glasshoughton – but failed to trouble stand in keeper Jordan Clarke.

Mid-way through the half however came the turning point. Following a silly booking for throwing the ball away, Matt Freeman lunged into an unnecessary challenge which gave referee Nigel Haycock no choice but to show the second yellow.

As the half wore on, Carnegie with their 10 men settled into their usual game and had chances through McGrory and Hawthorn but failed to really carve any openings of note.

On reflection of the first half, Carnegie would have been happy to go in at 0-0. The second half, however saw the home side come out in an alternative formation that proved to work as they began to put together some fantastic flowing moves, working the ball across the pitch picking gaps through the Glasshoughton team.

One of Carnegie’s best moves came from a Glasshoughton attack where the visitors forward missed what looked to be an easy chance , Carnegie coolly played the ball out of defence through the midfield and out to the left flank where Mycoe played the ball back inside. The ball was then worked over to the opposite side of the pitch through the Carnegie midfielders with a sequence of short but effective passes eventually finding Greig McGrory who, with an excellent first touch managed to control the ball into his path before seeing it flash across the goal mouth. An excellent strike from the clubs top scorer.

Jordan Clarke, put in a fantastic display in the sticks on his first team debut but was unable to prevent a clever low finish from the Glashoughton striker. The ball was played through the Leeds Carnegie defence, with Clark advancing out of his goal, the away sides striker tucked the ball underneath him.

Just moments later, against the run of play – Carnegie almost went two down but a clever chip could only find the top of the goal. Despite a couple of chances falling to the visitors, the home side continued to dominate the half despite being a man down. Rossiter looked very confident at the back putting in some superb challenges.

 FINAL SCORE:

Leeds Carnegie       0 (0) – (0) 1    Glasshoughton Welfare

                                                            [Damion Liddle 78 minutes]

 Attendance: 69

The official website of Leeds Carnegie FC can be found by clicking the following: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/leedscarnegie/

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Evo-Stik First Division North – Harrogate Railway v Trafford

Geographically Harrogate is a town in North Yorkshire situated 12 miles from Leeds. It is best known for its Spa facilities and Betty’s Tea Rooms – a town also immortalised by Alan Bennett in the television programme, Dinner at Noon (BBC, 1988) which portrayed the staff and guests at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate.

Given this, Harrogate is not a town people associate with football, yet it is in fact home to two clubs, Harrogate Town and Harrogate Railway Athletic. Harrogate Town is the elder statesman having been founded in 1914, whilst Railway came along in 1935. Town also have the edge in terms of League status over their rivals in that they play in the Blue Square Conference North, whilst Railway ply their trade in the Evo-Stik First Division North.

I’ve never been to either of the grounds, but had the choice this weekend to visit one of them, as both Harrogate clubs were at home. Town hosted AFC Telford United in the FA Trophy whilst Railway had a League fixture against Trafford. In the end I opted for a visit to Station View to watch Harrogate Railway v Trafford.

In terms of history the club was formed by workers at the Starbeck LNER depot, initially joining the local Harrogate League. The 1950’s saw the club progress through the West Yorkshire League to the Yorkshire League winning the West Yorkshire Football League Division Two Championship in 1950–51. In 1953 they made the Second Round proper of the FA Amateur Cup going out 3-2 at Harwich & Parkstone. Further success was achieved in 1957-58 when Railway were promoted from Yorkshire League Division Two.

However, in 1959 the locomotive sheds closed which affected finances as many of the workers and players, had to leave the area. Nevertheless, the club battled on through the sixties and they almost repeated their FA Amateur Cup exploits of the fifties when they made the First Round proper in 1961 only to lose 4-2 at Whitley Bay. The 1963-64 season Railway won promotion to the First Division of the Yorkshire League, which back then was just three steps from the Football League and got through to the Yorkshire League Cup Final, only to lose to Farsley Celtic after a replay.

The late sixties and the seventies became a real struggle and Railway had to pull out of the Yorkshire League and return to the Harrogate League in 1973. This gave the club time to re-group and they were back in the Yorkshire League in 1980 becoming founder-members of the newly created Northern Counties East League (NCEL) in 1982. In 1983-84 Railway won the NCEL Division Two North title and the League Cup with a 5-0 victory over Woolley Miners Welfare.

In the 1990-91 season Railway made their first major impression in the FA Cup when they reached the Fourth Qualifying Round, going out 3-1 at Chorley. As with many clubs at this level the nineties proved to be difficult times financially. However, in 1998-99 Railway won the NCEL First Division under David Fell, however he departed at the end of the same season, taking most of the side with him. New Manager Paul Marshall kept Railway in the Premier Division and was to mastermind two amazing back-to-back FA Cup adventures.

 In 2001 Railway reached the Fourth Qualifying Round before a 3-2 defeat at home to Morecambe. Just a year later and Railway went even further. The Harrogate club gained a 2-1 win at Slough Town in the First Round proper and history beckoned. The draw for the Second Round produced a fairy-tale tie. Railway as the lowest-ranking club ever to reach this stage were drawn at home to Bristol City, then top of the Second Division and the highest-ranking club in the Second Round. Railway chose to host the game and with temporary stands erected at Station View, Sky TV broadcast the game around the world and the club was the focus of the football universe in December 2002. However, the dream ended there and Bristol City ran out winners 3-1. The season did bring silverware however; as the NCEL Presidents Cup was won as Railway beat Bridlington Town 7-2 on aggregate.

Success came again to Station View in 2005-06 as Railway won promotion to what was the UniBond Northern Premier League. In 2007–08 the town of Harrogate was gripped by FA Cup fever as Town and Railway met in the Fourth Qualifying Round. Railway emerged 2-1 winners, only to lose 3–2 to Mansfield Town in the Second Round proper, a fixture which was televised live on Match of the Day.

This season has been a strange one to say the least. Railway opened 2010-11 with a scoreless draw at home to Prescot Cables and three days later a thumping 6-2 away at Garforth Town. September was a terrible month as the Railway took just 1 point (at Ossett Albion) from 7 League games and found themselves bottom of the table. This dreadful run continued at the start of October, as two further home defeats occurred against strugglers Leigh Genisis and League front-runners Chester. Fortune turned with a 2-1 FA Trophy First Qualifying Round win at Ossett Albion and October ended with three more games unbeaten. A League point was won in a 2-2 draw at Witton Albion, followed by progress in the Presidents Cup (3-2 away at Durham City) and another away win at Romulus in the FA Trophy Second Qualifying Round. November and Railway simply couldn’t stop winning as League victories were obtained against Chorley, Durham City and Mossley, and a Cup double against Wakefield in the West Riding County Cup and Presidents Cup. The only blimp was exit from the FA Trophy at the hands of Nantwich Town.

That game took place on 20th November and proved to be the last action for Railway for three weeks. The heavy snow and wintry conditions hit the North hard and despite the thaw in the week beginning 6th December, the club was not confident the Station View Ground would be fit for play. However, incredibly the game against Trafford did take place.

If people are unsure of the financial struggles at this level of the football pyramid then the following should provide some enlightenment. Just 68 hardly souls braved the weather to watch this fixture. Every penny is crucial and so the recent postponements hit clubs hard. Given that Railway didn’t believe the fixture would go ahead they didn’t order any programmes for the game. They calculated that if the fixture went ahead it would cost less to suffer the League fine for not producing a programme on the day, than to go ahead with the expense of printing and then be stuck with them if the game was cancelled. It also impacted on the catering, as the crowd was informed before kick-off over the tannoy that there were no pies on sale, as they hadn’t been ordered as a precaution against the match being cancelled.

So to the game itself. The pitch was in remarkably good condition given the snow that had fallen in and around North Yorkshire in the proceeding weeks. The opening ten minutes were somewhat frantic as both sides struggled to get rid of the rustiness of not having played for three weeks. Railway settled first and took the lead in the 13th minute when Michael Duckworth broke down the right past his defender and crossed to the near post where Jon Maloney headed home. However, the lead lasted just three minutes as a stunning Chris Baguley strike ripped past Railway keeper Craig Parry to level the scores at 1-1. The score changed again in the 19th minute as the Trafford defence was split by a mis-hit pass from Liam Gray which fell to Andy Jackson, who lobbed the advancing Aaron Tyrer to restore Railway’s lead. Once again Trafford responded and just four minutes before half-time, were level at 2-2 with a goal from Jamie Baguley. So honours even in what was an entertaining opening forty five minutes.

Railways were quick to start in the second half and within a minute of the restart were back ahead, as Michael Duckworth drilled one past Parry to give the home side a 3-2 lead. Trafford fought back, but Railway looked the more likely to score as the game went on. Wayne Harratt thought he has sealed the points with a header, but was ruled out for off-side. So a win for the home team which see Railway in 12th position and continues their recent revival.

On my way out of the ground I noticed the club flag displaying the Railway badge which features not trains, but a beaver. A symbol representative of all those who worked so hard on the railways down the years, but also a fitting tribute to those today who work so tirelessly to keep Harrogate Railway Athletic going, both on and off the pitch.

The official website of Harrogate Railway Athletic FC can be found at: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/harrogaterailwayathletic/

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2010/11: NCEL Premier Division – Farsley AFC v Maltby Main

revival“Revival” is defined as, “…a restoration to life or consciousness…”

Why am I starting this particle article with this word? Well, the answer is a simple one. The word “Revival” adorns the cover of the matchday programme of Farsley AFC this season. It is there as a reminder to all that this is indeed a club restored to life. Few outside of this part of West Yorkshire will know about the story of Farsley AFC.

Farsley Celtic football club was founded by a group of local men in 1908 and the team began life in the Leeds Amateur League. From the 1920’s they found a permanent home at Red Lane opposite Farsley Cricket Club and moved to their current ground at Throstle Nest after the Second World War. In 1949-50 “The Villagers” moved into the Yorkshire League Division Two and won the title in 1951-52 gaining promotion to Division One. In 1959-60 Farsley were crowned as champions, but were not promoted due to the ground not meeting the regulatory standards. History repeated itself in 1968-69, when having won the title again Farsley were once more denied promotion.

With the merger in 1982 of the Yorkshire and Midland Leagues to form the Northern Counties East League, Farsley found themselves in Division One North. Success soon came “The Villagers” way, winning the title in 1984-85 and promotion to the Premier Division. After only two seasons Farsley finished runners-up and were invited into the Northern Premier League as founder members of the Northern Premier League First Division.

There followed a period of consolidation, before in the 2003-04 season, Farsley earned promotion to the Northern Premier (Unibond) League Premier Division. Then just two seasons later, following a Play-Off Final win over North Ferriby, promotion was obtained to the Conference North. Incredibly the following season (2006-07) Farsley reached the Play-off final after finishing fifth. They played Hinckley United winning 4-3 with a last minute penalty from Simeon Bambrook after twice coming from behind, securing their place in the highest echelons of non league soccer for the fist time in their history during their centenary season. Lee Sinnott had achieved a remarkable four promotions in five seasons and was making a good fist of life in the Conference Premier before departing to Port Vale.

Sinnott’s departure during 2007-08 inevitably affected the team and on the last day of the season “The Villagers” were unfortunately relegated back to the Conference North. By now the financial pressure of the promotions were hitting “The Villagers” hard and at the end of the 2008-09 the club was charged with financial irregularities and expelled from the Conference North. However, the decision was reversed and Farsley began 2009-10 but with a -10 point deduction. “The Villagers” never completed the season when in March 2010 the club was disbanded by the Administrators.

Many believed that would be the end of the club, but Farsley AFC were reformed by John Palmer’s consortium and were accepted by the (Koolsport) Northern Counties East League, Premier Division in June 2010 so allowing the continuation of 102 years of existence for the club.

Farsley have made a strong start to this seasons campaign and before the home fixture against Maltbty Main had a record of: Played 15, Won 11, Drawn 3, Lost 1. This total of 36 points meant they topped the table, although the teams below them such as Parkgate and Bridlington Town have games in hand on “The Villagers”.

Maltby Main came into this game at the wrong end of the table and on paper it looked like a routine win for the League leaders. However, it was an uncomfortable day for Farsley who put in a very poor performance to lose 4-2. Farsley looked vulnerable at the back and conceded the midfield area to a much more committed and eager Maltby team.

The visitors took the lead in the 17thminute when Adam Shepherd coolly beat Tom Morgan when presented with a one on one situation with the Farsley keeper. It looked like the home side had finally woken up when they equalised almost immediately, as Simeon Bambrook converted Roy Stamer’s cross. Farsley pressed without being convincing and on the stroke of half-time, went behind again. There was a suspicion of offside as Robert Branagan was played in and he squared the ball to Scott Whittingham who applied the finishing touch.

If the home fans expected their team to come out all guns blazing, then they were disappointed. However, the second half came to life during a seven minute period which effectively put the game beyond Farsley’s reach. In the 56thminute Maltby were awarded a penalty which Greg Mason expertly put away to give the visitors a 3-1 lead. Within five minutes, Farsley had reduced the deficit as substitute Dave Stead raced into the penalty area and was brought down by Patrick Sullivan. Dominic Krief had his spot kick saved, but Simeon Bambrook managed to score the re-bound. Any chance of a Farsley recovery however were dispelled on 63 minutes, when Robert Branagan breezed through the non-existent Villagers backline to give the visitors a 4-2 lead. At last there was some urgency from the Farsley team as they created a number of chances in the final quarter of the game, but all to no avail.

In truth the visitors deserved their victory and the Farsley faithful amongst the 244 crowd will hope that it was just once of those days. Here’s hoping that the “revival” continues and that come the end of the season, “The Villagers” are celebrating promotion.

The Farsley AFC website can be found through the following link: Farsley AFC website

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