Parkgate 3 Garforth 2

In a fairly even start to the game Ben Hunter made an early save on 2 mins after the ball was given away on the left and Luke Mangham shot straight at Parkgate goalkeeper Jamie Bailey two mins later.

On 9 mins defender Jonathan Wragg earned himself a booking after a bad challenge on Tawanda Rupere.

After a slow first half hour or so the action stepped up a gear to try and warm up the storm-battered crowd. Tim Robertson almost scored a screamer from the edge of the box on 26 mins with a curling effort just wide.

The home side thought they had the opener on 30 mins; from a corner kick on the right the ball came out to Michael Jones who's volley found its way through the crowd to Sam Foulds who poked home but the offside flag was raised. No doubts a minute later though when an attack saw the same man break clear and smash the ball through Hunter's legs and into the net to put the Steelmen ahead.

Only a minute later the returning Josh Greenhalgh came close when his rasping shot was tipped over by Bailey, after good work on the left by Mangham. Luke Johnson almost put the Steelmen further ahead when set up by Foulds but Hunter turned his low shot wide.

Elements of the game at Wheatley Park on the first day of the season repeated themselves on 39 mins when Andy Hawksworth fouled Adam Stapleford-Jones just inside the box, referee Sean Richardson pointing immediately to the spot. Once again Scott Lowe stepped up, sending Hunter the wrong way to make it 2-0.

A minute before the break Spencer Lund was denied the debut goal his recent displays deserved, a grounded Wragg somehow stopping his close range effort from crossing the line. Two-nil at the break and whilst the lads probably deserved a goal for their efforts they'd struggled to really stretch the Rotherham side at the back.

Garforth came out for the second half with more urgency however and four mins in Mangham shot inches wide from sub Chris Simpkins' corner. The next few minutes saw the hosts make errors in defence which we just couldn't capitalise on; on 51 mins a slip on the ball by Alex Varley saw Mangham set up Greenhalgh but his shot was blocked by a defender and five minutes later a left wing cross came to Sam Jones in a great position but he miscued his volley.

Despite this spell of pressure Hunter in the Town goal still had to be alert and pulled off an excellent double save from two powerful strikes on 61 mins, firstly from Ben Langford and then from Johnson.

Five minutes later though the home side made the points safe from a quickly taken free kick in the middle of the park. With the Miners' defence asleep the ball was played forward to Stapleford-Jones who had the straightforward task of lashing home past Hunter.

On 78 mins Town gave themselves a glimmer of hope when sub Dan Barrett raced clear down the right flank and picked out Greenhalgh on the far side who found the bottom corner of the net with a low strike.

The attacks kept coming, causing panic in the Steelmen defence despite their two-goal advantage and indicating what might have been if we hadn't such a mountain to climb. Mangham has arguably saved his best goals for games against his local side and delivered another sublime strike on 83 mins. Creating space for himself just outside the box he scored with a delightful chip into the top corner.

Town were now throwing the kitchen sink at their opponents, but even a foray upfield by Hunter couldn't guide us to a late equalizer. A valiant effort towards the end but all a bit too late and the Steelmen were able to celebrate victory.