Garforth Town 0-1 Staveley Miners Welfare

The result made it two losses out of two in November for Town so far.

Despite the request we received on Twitter from Staveley for this match report to “capture all match statistics”, Opta weren’t in attendance at the game, so this will have to do...

Garforth had the ball in the net twice in the first half, but both were disallowed for offside. The first came after 10 minutes when Billy Lumsden’s ball across the box fell to Devonte Morton, but the flag was up.

Midway through the first half Staveley won a free kick on the edge of the box, but the shot went over. On 27 minutes they gained an even bigger opportunity as they were awarded a penalty. Lee Turner, making his return to the side after re-signing in the week, brought down Jahmal Riley in the box. Toby Wells saved the penalty, but nobody reacted, and it was tapped away by Andrew Fox.

Garforth’s next disallowed goal came on 40 minutes when Shaquille Clarke-Adams skipped past a couple of challenges before playing a through ball to Lumsden. The midfielder slotted the ball in at the near post, but had already been ruled offside.

Next, an inswinging cross from Clarke-Adams was chested down by Morton, but his volley was soft and was comfortably saved by Myles Wright.

Garforth were given a bit of hope when Matthew Parkin was sent off for a second bookable offence just before half time. His first yellow was for a foul on Lumsden, and five minutes later he was penalised again for a challenge just inside the Garforth half.

Town went into the break hoping their numerical advantage could inspire a comeback. However, it wasn’t to be. Early in the second half, Staveley’s Jordan Claxton dribbled forward and after the referee played advantage, he passed the ball to Riley. The latter’s shot went wide.

On the hour mark came a glorious chance for Morton, who spooned a shot over the bar from six yards out. It should have been a tap in. Next was an ambitious effort from Mike Thompson from the left-hand side, but it went wide.

As the second half reached its halfway point, Lumsden switched the play to Aodhan Brownlee on the left, who whipped in an inviting delivery. However, no attacker got on the end of it. At the other end, Staveley had a couple of chances in quick succession from counter attacks, with one run down the left wing being stopped by Turner, and another break forward leading to Wells saving a shot from Sam Finlaw.

Garforth continued to push for an equaliser, with substitute strikers Mark Simpson and Curtly Martin-Wyatt combining. The former had a shot blocked, with the latter trying an overhead kick as it rebounded, before another of his efforts went wide.

A late Town corner saw Wells come up in one final throw of the dice, but it wasn’t to be, and Staveley returned home with all three points.

Garforth will look to get back on track in the next game, away at Yorkshire Amateur on Saturday (3pm kick off).