Armthorpe Welfare 2 Garforth 2

Danny Harris came close on 14 mins after creating space and having a shot deflected wide, and a minute later Callum Cheetham headed wide Tim Robertson’s inswinging ball from the corner.

Town’s first shot on target came on 22 mins to new signing Sam Jones, his curling strike having to be turned wide by William Biggs in the Armthorpe goal.

The home side looked a little more threatening than in the game here a few weeks ago but their attacks tended to break down in the final third. This all changed though on 32 mins when they took the lead, arguably against the run of play. The ball was worked across the edge of box to Craig Aspinall who played in Tom McClaughlin to finish well past Ben Hunter.

The equalizer came just five minutes later from a player who must surely have the monopoly on the goal of the month prize. Robertson stepped up for a free kick about 25 yards out and delivered it sweetly into the top corner.

Welfare almost retook the lead on 39 mins when a dangerous ball was delivered in by McLaughlin with two attacking players waiting but Hunter nipped into divert away from Jay Rollins and then collect from under the feet of Darren Mansaram.

On 50 mins Jack McCarthy almost made it two goals in two games when supplied on the right by Sinmi Oyebanji but shot just over the bar. Another chance fell to Jones six mins later after evading a strong challenge in midfield but also shot over. The introduction of new signing Mark Simpson on 60 mins gave The Miners a real injection of pace and he impressed within seconds, making a storming run down the left and shooting at Biggs from a narrow angle.

Our opponents were employing a more direct approach than the first half and the game became a little scrappy. To be fair though the change in tactics seemed to work for them and on 65 mins a Brad Johnson free kick saw Mansaram blaze over the bar from the edge of the box. Two minutes later they looked certain to score when Lumsden was put through but a combination of Harris and Hunter did enough to put him off and his shot was deflected wide off the edge of the post.

On 69 mins a Garforth attack saw Welfare nearly score at the wrong end when a decent ball in by Oyebanji was turned narrowly wide by Anthony Ryan.

A major setback occurred on 77 mins when Harris fell awkwardly and had to come off with a suspected dislocated shoulder. With only two substitutes and both already used we were forced to see out the game with ten men. Town didn’t shut up shop though and there was to be late drama as both sides kept up their search for the winner. On 82 mins Simpson shot just wide after Oyebanji won the ball back and crossed inside from the byeline.

The home side looked to exploit the inevitable gaps left behind and Hunter did well to keep the score at 1-1 shortly after when he denied Aspinall after being put through by Stuart Preston. The Doncaster side got what looked to be a winner though on 88 mins when Lumsden’s low drive was parried by Hunter straight to an unmarked Rollins at the back post who slotted into the empty net.

Simpson came close again after Luke Mangham made a foray into the box, skipped past Biggs and forced a block from Andrew Walkden, the ball coming out to Simpson who fired wide.

The Miners haven’t always had the rub of the green this season and defeat would’ve summed things up. However in almost the last kick of the game Oyebanji grabbed a rare but thoroughly deserved goal to give us a share of the points. A ball forward from Dan Barrett evaded the head of a defender and fell to the Nigerian who was able to advance and fire home past Biggs for 2-2.

On paper a game Town looked to win but even with 22 players on the field our opponents gave us a sterner test than three weeks ago and also considering a number of players out injured (Nick Black, Jassim Alali and Tawanda Rupere to name three) not a bad point to round off November.