Garforth 1 Liversedge 1

Sam Jones carved out Garforth’s first chance with only 3 mins played, putting a delicate chip just over the bar.

On 12 mins there was a hairy moment when a left wing cross in from Liversedge’s Kieran Corley caused confusion in the Town defence, Ben Hunter stretched to divert it onto the post and luckily Jassim Alali (in his 40th appearance for the club) managed to clear off the line.

It had been a scrappy first 20-or so mins but Town started to assert themselves and Luke Mangham almost put us in front after a good run and cross in from Spencer Lund but poked it just wide.
On 25 mins Mark Simpson made an excellent run down the middle and broke clear but shot just wide from the edge of the box. Only a minute later though it was 1-0; Andy Hawksworth did brilliantly to reach a ball forward on the byeline and pass inside to Sinmi Oyebanji who flicked into the far corner past keeper Samuel Dobbs. A fourth goal in three games now for the Nigerian.

Other than Eli Hey heading over a Brook Newton corner on 29 mins it was all Garforth for the rest of the half. Ashley Preece nearly grabbed his first competitive goal for the club on 36 mins, his powerful header from Tim Robertson’s corner being superbly tipped over by Dobbs.

A minute into the second half Simpson made another one of his storming runs forward, leaving two defenders for dead but Dobbs managed to get down low and turn his low shot wide. In a flurry of chances for the Miners around the hour mark, a Simpson foray down the left on 57 mins ended in his shot being parried by Dobbs but sadly with nobody in yellow and blue around to pounce and Sedge were able to clear the danger. Dobbs kept the visitors in the game again shortly after with a save from Tim Robertson after he cut inside from the left.

The battling visitors had survived the onslaught and sensed their chance to get something from the game. The introduction of Adam Smith (for ex-Garforth midfielder Anthony Hilton) seemed to up their tempo and on 63 mins Town had the woodwork to thank after a goalmouth scramble saw an opposition player hit the post.

Simpson was guilty of wasting another chance to make the game safe when breaking clear again on 63 mins with only Dobbs to beat but shot wide. A goal is the only thing missing from this young striker who has terrorized defences since making his debut last weekend. One senses that, akin to the David Brown of 2010-11, when off the mark more goals will follow.

Robertson was unlucky not to make it 2-0 on 76 mins when stepping up for a free kick in a similar position to his beauty at Armthorpe last week but his fine strike agonizingly crashed off the crossbar. Hunter had to be alert two mins later at the other end, magnificently tipping over a Corley drive from the edge of the box.

On 83 mins some good football down the left saw Oyebanji’s cross headed out by a defender to Mangham who played in Hawksworth to his right who shot just over the bar.

Failure to put ourselves out of sight when on top has often been Town’s undoing this season, making us vulnerable to crucial late deciders. Sure enough it was exactly that which denied us victory. Deep into injury time a long throw-in from the visitors wasn’t dealt with, the ball found its way to captain Tom Jackson who fired low through the crowd and into the net to rescue a point for the away side.