Knaresborough 1-2 Garforth

Garforth almost opened the scoring as early as the first minute when Jay Davis shot narrowly wide from distance. Knaresborough however went even closer only two minutes later when Colin Heath headed against the post. Another chance for the hosts came on 7 mins when Byron Littlefair picked out Heath in space in the box but the striker could only fire well over.

For the remainder of the half Garforth struggled to keep possession against a physical side and were restricted to only a few chances on the break. Ben Hunter kept us in the game when he kept out a Craig Radcliffe volley on 20 mins.

Eight minutes later Sam Akeroyd did well to deliver the ball from the wing to Davis who volleyed just wide and on 39 mins Ashley Preece forced a decent stop from Knaresborough keeper Paul Hagreen after some good football down the left.

Five minutes into the second half the game came to life when the North Yorkshire side broke the deadlock. Littlefair received the ball from a short corner and found Heath who headed in.

The Miners now had work to do to avoid another upset but weren’t behind for long. Immediately from kick off an attack ended in Akeroyd being brought down by William Lenehan in the box and the referee pointed straight to the spot. Akeroyd duly stepped up and despatched low into the net to Hagreen’s right.

From then we were much more of a threat and looked dangerous on the break. On 55 mins Hagreen denied Sinmi Oyebanji after good work by Davis and two minutes later Davis had another go with a powerful strike from the edge of the box which the home stopper did well to save.

Chris Simpkins almost grabbed a first Town goal when breaking clear of the defence on 61 mins but Hagreen was there again.
On 64 mins Garforth were in front. Cup goal specialist Davis made a good run and shot low and hard into the net via a deflection off Hagreen. Luke Mangham was there on the line to make sure but the goal was given to Davis.

Some heated moments ensued but in a spirited performance Town refused to be bullied. The home side set out to level up the game but ultimately didn’t make their superior possession count. Robert Mortimer headed wide from a long ball forward on 67 mins and a long range effort from Liam Tuck three minutes from time almost caught out Hunter which he just about managed deal with.

In a flurry of chances thereafter a lively Sinmi Oyebanji was unlucky not to score when breaking clear with only an onrushing Hagreen to beat but shot narrowly wide, and in injury time from a free kick when he beat him again from a narrow angle, the ball agonizingly rolling along the goal line and somehow out of play. In the end 2-1 was enough to see us to a first win in the County Cup for nearly three years and passage into the Second Round.