Garforth 1 Worksop Town 0

Graham Nicholas was forced into a defensive reshuffle, with Jack McCarthy and Ashley Preece called in to do a job at the back, replacing unavailable regulars Andy Hawksworth and Jassim Alali. The match also saw a return to the club for attacking midfielder Jay Davis, from Bradford PA. Chris Simpkins also made a return from injury and lined up on the bench.

In the first half Garforth sat deep and Worksop had nearly all the play. They threatened as early as two mins when Jonathan Wafula crossed to Tom Elliot from out on the left but Elliot slipped on the ball.

Davis was never shy of pulling the trigger in his last stint at the club earlier in the season and picked up where he left off on 8 mins, shooting straight at Tigers’ goalkeeper Jonathan Stewart from 30 yards.

The two teams’ lack of action recently was obvious with passes often going astray and both losing control of the ball. Despite the visitors' possession they were let down by poor finishing throughout the afternoon. On 10 mins Conor Sellars got past Craig Tonkinson and shot at Ben Hunter from a tight angle.

On 25 mins Tawanda Rupere made himself unpopular with the large away crowd and provoked the fury of manager Mark Shaw with a late challenge on captain Jake Scott.

In the last ten minutes The Miners finally started to string some attacks together. Good work down the left from Luke Mangham saw him almost supply Sinmi Oyebanji but Stewart was off his line quickly to shut him out. Another attack from the pair soon after saw them both receive the ball in good positions inside the box but good defending prevented them getting shots away. The last chance of the half fell to Mitch Husbands of Worksop who probably should’ve done better after being released by Higginson; blazing a shot over the bar.

The Miners came out for the second period with more belief, making for a more open game. Higginson and Husbands were causing problems again two mins in when Husbands received the ball via a deflection but could only shoot wide of the target. On 48 mins some excellent play from Mangham and Lund saw Lund find Oyebanji on the left who struck over from almost on the byeline.
Hunter made two great saves from Higginson around the hour mark, doing well to palm away his drive from outside the box on 57 mins and standing firm four mins later to hold onto another powerful effort from a similar position.

Pursehouse came close for the visitors moments later with a superb solo run down the right, but put a low shot inches wide of the far post. Further pressure followed twenty minutes from time but the second place side couldn’t find a way past a dogged and resolute Town defence who’d put everything on the line. Kyle Jordan did well to find space in a crowded box but smashed over the bar. Seconds later Hunter saved a deflected Higginson strike and Pursehouse shot wide of the angle from out on the right.

With the Nottinghamshire side committing men forward Town were increasingly finding joy on the counter attack and the winning goal came from exactly that on 75 mins. It was admittedly a slice of fortune from a defensive mix-up, but Tim Robertson was in the right place at the right time. A clearance from Stewart hit the back of a defender and went straight to the fullback who was able to charge past the keeper and slot into the empty net.

More good work from Robertson on the left saw him supply Davis in space but he could only lash wide. The defence rode their luck at times in the last ten mins with some errors in communication of their own, but in a reversal to many games this season the increasingly frustrated opponents couldn’t take advantage.

In the final minutes sub Chris Whincop shot wide in a crowded penalty area, but the last chance fell to Robertson in injury time who really should’ve made it 2-0 after another defensive error saw the ball fall to him in space, but the usually composed fullback held on to it for far too long allowing the Tigers’ defence to recover and clear his shot off the line.