Captain Dan Coupland was back in the starting eleven after holidays, replacing Jay Davis who was named a substitute. Alongside him on the bench was centre-back Harry Viggars who made a welcome return after a spell out injured.

Whilst there's been better attacking performances this season, in a scrappy game Town showed tremendous grit and determination to shut their hosts out and take their chances at the other end to seal a magnificent win against the in-form hosts.

The afternoon's first chance fell to Hallam's Jack Brownell who's free kick was easily claimed by Harry Flatters. Despite this Garforth took the lead on 6 mins when Charlie Marshall cut in from the left and saw his shot take a wicked deflection off Brandon Bagbury and find the bottom corner of the net.

The home side, missing injured centre-forward Oliver Fearon who's proved a match winner in the previous two meetings, enjoyed most of the possession first half but the Town defence dealt well throughout with their aerial threat, meaning Flatters wasn't tested. A Scott Ruthven volley from distance went narrowly wide after Flatters' poor kick out on 11 mins, in what was probably their best chance of the half. As half time loomed, Nicolantonio Degirolamo headed wide from a Ruthven free kick on the right, then an even rarer Garforth chance saw Sam Barker's shot saved by Hallam keeper Hugo Warhurst when played in by Nash Connolly.

On 49 mins a good strike by Dan Coupland brought a stop by Warhurst after the captain worked in from the right. The second half was ultimately to be a "tale of two penalties" which, in contrast to the last meeting in LS25 back in July, this time was to go The Miners' way. A counter attack ended in Flatters bringing down Oliver Parfitt and the referee pointed immediately to the spot. Substitute and prolific scorer Ashley Flynn stepped up, and to the surprise of many, fired well over the bar to keep our narrow lead intact. Town looked to take advantage of that let-off with Warhurst almost gifting us a second moments later from Jordan Emery's long throw, his attempted punch going inches wide of the post. The introduction of subs Matt Antcliff and Jason Davis gave us a much needed boost up front, and Barker was unfortunate on 73 mins when played through by Davis and finishing well, but was ruled offside. Garforth's penalty followed four minutes later when Antcliff burst into the box and was brought down by Warhurst. Coupland stepped up and banished any bad memories of his miss in that 3-1 defeat at the start of the season by duly despatching low into the corner of the net. A first goal since April for "Captain Coops".

The hosts didn't give up in attempting what would now be heroic comeback, but it was The Miners who enjoyed the better of the chances in the final minutes in a bid to make it three. Antcliff's glancing header from Davis's free-kick went just over the bar, before the latter latched onto a poor clearance 20 yards out and saw an effort denied by Warhurst at the second attempt. After the dramatic eight minutes of injury time at Emley on Tuesday, hearts were in Garforth supporters' mouths when the board went up for six minutes, but the Town defence held firm and we could celebrate taking a big three points back up the M1.

A first win in five attempts against the Countrymen which lifts us back to 5th in the table. Our unbeaten run in the league now stretches to eight games which we look to increase when we visit Barton Town next Saturday (kick-off 3pm). Home matches have been few and far between in recent weeks, so there's respite from our travels in the meantime when we entertain a West Yorkshire League Representative side in a friendly match this Tuesday (kick off 7:45pm).