Miners Struggle Against Battling Welfare

The first half was a rather flat one from a Town perspective as we struggled to get going against a hard-working and determined Nostell side.

Five minutes in Adam Hayton tested Ben Hunter with a free kick from 25 yards and on 11 mins a dangerous corner flashed across goal but nobody could apply the finishing touch.

Garforth’s first chance came when a cross from Nick Black on 14 mins was cleared to Jay Davis who tried for goal but his effort deflected off Curtly Martin-Wyatt and went wide.

The visitors took a deserved lead on 19 mins when dangerman Danny Critchlow won the ball on the right, turned a defender and scored with a good finish into the top corner.

Town seemed to miss the influence of Tawanda Rupere (suspended) and Luke Mangham (unavailable), struggled to keep possession and to beat Nostell’s offside trap. A couple of decent chances to equalise came around half an hour in when Sinmi Oyebanji found space to force a save from Ben Saynor in the Welfare goal, and shortly after Saynor was there again to deny a Davis header. Black almost found the net on 35 mins with a snapshot just wide from pacey Davis delivery.

The visitors almost put themselves further ahead on 37 mins when the ball was given away by Andy Hawksworth to Hayton, his strike taking a wicked deflection and Hunter doing well to keep it out of the corner. Only a minute later defender Olly Steeple probably should’ve done better when finding himself unmarked in the box but fired over the bar.

Coming out after the break it was clear Graham Nicholas had demanded improvement from his players, and the second half saw much more urgency.

A minute in Martin-Wyatt forced a save from Saynor with a header but the offside flag had already been raised. On 57 mins though Nick Black levelled things up with a fourth goal in seven days; Davis’ ball splitting the defence and allowing Black to finish well.
Martin-Wyatt came agonisingly close to turning the game on its head soon afterwards when a Davis delivery found him at the far post but he couldn’t get his shot away. A Hawksworth strike from distance soon after was parried by Saynor, coming out to Curtly but he could only shoot wide. Another good delivery from Davis on 59 mins came to Karim Ibrahim but he too couldn’t apply the finishing touch.

With Town turning the screw the visitors looked to hit us on the break and Hunter came to our rescue two mins later when denying Hayton with his foot.

On 74 mins The Miners had a good shout for a penalty when Nick Black looked to have been brought down but appeals were waved away by referee Ashley Guest.

A second goal was surely coming but Town couldn’t take their chances and it was the battling visitors who delivered a sucker-punch. With the players in blue and yellow appealing for offside a long ball forward was missed by Hunter on 79 mins, leaving Critchlow to poke into an empty net for his second of the game.

With defeat now in prospect the lads had to do it all again, Davis forcing a good save on 89 mins with a free kick. Martin-Wyatt had had a few chances to score but finally rescued a late point when a Garforth corner was cleared out to him and he struck low and hard through a crowded box into the bottom corner.

Further late drama followed in injury time – Hawksworth firing just over the bar after a one-two with Black and at the other end Hunter tipped over a long range effort from captain Simon Poole. But the final whistle was blown and both teams had to settle for a draw, which on reflection was probably a fair result.