GARFORTH TOWN 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 4

TEAM NEWS: With Dan Verity suffering with an illness and Kevin Ryan still struggling with a leg injury Phil Sharpe made two changes from the side that narrowly won against Ossett Albion last Saturday. In came Tom Jackson at full-back and James Nettleton to join Chris Jenkinson in the centre of the defence.

With games now coming thick and fast it was important for Rail to start brightly and keep their good run going. They didn’t disappoint as within two minutes they had taken an early lead. A brilliant turn in the penalty area by Ben Jones left the defender for dead he then unselfishly squared the ball across the area for Aaron Hollingdrake who was waiting at the far post to finish from close in.

 

GARFORTH TOWN 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 1 (2mins)

Rail were dominating possession but they just couldn’t find that final ball to kill the game off. Garforth were playing a dangerous offside trap and on no less than three occasions Rail were narrowly caught offside in the space of 5 minutes when they were through no goal. With only a one goal advantage there was always a worry that Garforth might sneak an equaliser and as luck would have it they did. Manny had virtually nothing to do in the first half hour but unfortunately his first job was to pick the ball out of the net. A free-kick was awarded to Garforth midway in our own half and was crossed into our area. Despite the efforts of our defenders we failed to clear our lines and it fell nicely to Paul Johnson in the middle of the penalty box. He had time to control the ball and blast it past Manny before the defenders had time to react.

GARFORTH TOWN 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 1 (29mins)

Within seconds of the restart Rail should have retaken the lead. A simple move provided Ben Jones a chance from close in but he put his shot wide. Frustration was setting in as both Paul Stansfield and Nicky Darker were both shown the yellow card. Paul’s was for dissent and Nicky’s was for pulling a player back on the half-way line. Although it was an innocuous enough challenge it didn’t really help when the entire Garforth bench jumped up as one and shouted at the referee. Whatever happened to sportsmanship? It wasn’t long after that Milton Turner found himself in the book as well as Scott Driscoll was a little too quick for him as he made a clumsy challenge when Scott had turned him. The end of the half was approaching when Garforth nearly took an undeserved lead. A cross came in from our right and Dan Thirkell accidently sent the ball towards the goal when trying to clear but Manny was alert and made a fine save to keep the ball out of the net.

HALF-TIME: GARFORTH TOWN 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 1

Unfortunately Ben couldn’t make the second half and was replaced by Andy Jackson. This meant a re-shuffle with Dan Thirkell going upfront, Andy playing down the right-hand side of midfield and Nicky Darker playing in defence.  It wasn’t long after the restart that Garforth’s no. 3 – Shaun O’Neill found himself in the book for a challenge from behind. The game didn’t really start to get going until the introduction of 2 changes that were made by Rail. On came Steve Palfrey and Dan Buttle to replace Aaron Hollingdrake and Tom Jackson. Garforth were looking dangerous on the counter-attack as the noisy Garforth bench urged their players on. It was difficult from the stands to understand what they were saying so goodness knows what the players were thinking!! 

 

 

 

However with all this going on Rail managed to regain the lead with a bizarre goal. There seemed little danger as Andy Jackson received the ball on the left-hand edge of the penalty area as he hit a tame shot towards goal. To everyone’s surprise the ball took a couple of deflections and ended up going through the goalkeepers legs and into the back of the net.

GARFORTH TOWN 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 2 (69mins)

From then on Rail took charge of the game and there was no way back for our Yorkshire rivals. Dan Thirkell became the fifth player into the referee’s notebook as he needlessly kicked the ball away after Garforth were awarded a free-kick. However it wasn’t long after that Dan was celebrating for all his hard work he had put in with a well taken goal. Dan Buttle, whose crosses were causing Garforth problems since he came on, swung another one in from the left. It evaded Steve Palfrey and the Garforth defender and Dan was waiting at the far post to finish off from close range.

GARFORTH TOWN 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 3 (88mins)

The game was over for Garforth but Rail weren’t finished with the scoring. Within a minute of the restart Rail had sent a long ball forward for Steve Palfrey to chase. He managed to get there before the advancing keeper could and he headed it over him. Unfortunately it didn’t have the power to go into the net but Dan Buttle was waiting to finish off again from close range

GARFORTH TOWN 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 4 (89mins)

Game over and all Rail had to do was see out the remaining minute and the 3 added on which they did comfortably.

FULL-TIME: GARFORTH TOWN 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 4

BOOKINGS: 5 – Paul Stansfield, Nicky Darker & Dan Thirkell (Rail) Milton Turner & Shaun O’Neill (Garforth)

ATTENDANCE: 177

RAIL MAN OF THE MATCH: CHRIS JENKINSON

PLAYERS MARK OUT OF 10:

James Mann – 7

Dan Thirkell – 8

Tom Jackson – 7

Liam Gray – 7

James Nettleton – 8

Chris Jenkinson – 8

Nicky Darker – 7

Paul Stansfield – 7

Ben Jones – 7

Aaron Hollingdrake – 7

Scott Driscoll – 7

 

SUBS:  Andy Jackson – 7, Dan Buttle – 7, Steve Palfrey - 7