Garforth 6 Thackley 1

New signing Jordan Harding came straight into the side to replace the injured Toby Wells, and striker Mark Simpson returned to the first eleven after missing the win over Bottesford last weekend.

Thackley's Jack Normanton provided the first chance of the afternoon with a low strike across the face of goal from a dangerous move along the right. Down the other end Alex Low headed just over the bar from Sean Hunter's corner, before Seb Scaroni stroked the ball wide after Town were caught on the break.

So far, so even, but Town were handed a huge advantage on 22 mins when Scaroni was sent off for a late challenge on Sam Leach in the middle of the park. In the aftermath Thackley assistant manager Joe Brown too saw red for his protests, and manager Pat McGuire a yellow.

Any fears among supporters of a tough rest of the game against fired-up opponents were soon quashed as Paul Marshall's side capitalised in a fashion not seen by your reporter for many years. After the winning the ball on the left, Hunter supplied Sam Barker to sidestep his man and coolly stroke the ball into the net to give Garforth the lead.

Barker was denied a second shortly after when his strike from just outside the area was held by Thackley keeper Luke Wilson, following up a blocked Dan Coupland effort. The visitors then came within a whisker of finding the equalizer; Harding making a great save to deny Normanton, then Dan Williams headed off the line the resulting shot from Jack Boyle.

The lead was doubled a minute before the break however, when some good play from a throw-in ended in Hunter firing low past Wilson into the bottom corner. Moments later Lee Turner came close to making it three, shooting just wide after dogged perseverance from Barker and Hunter to win the ball back. There was another save for Harding to make in stoppage time, doing well to claim Boyle's 30-yard effort.

Town put themselves out of sight only four minutes into the second period. A ball over the top put through Simpson to round Wilson and find the empty net - one away for a century now for our all-time top scorer.

There was another sight of goal for Boyle on 56 mins when his 20-yard free-kick went just over the bar, then down the other end Barker too fired over the bar after Turner did well to bring down a cross-field pass. Simpson shot beyond the far post on 65 mins, before substitute Adam Muller's effort was just off target after Boyle supplied him deep in the box.

There was no sign of consolidating our lead as the hungry Miners went in search of more goals. They had supporters purring on 68 mins with arguably the goal of the game. Some superb football along the right saw Leach deliver the ball to Hunter who nodded home for his second of the game.

To their credit the visitors never gave up and looked a useful side going forward. Low was well-placed to clear off the line a header from former-Garforth midfielder Simon Poole to keep our clean sheet intact.

On 77 mins there was a rare goal for Low to make it five. From a Simpson corner he got on the end of a loose ball to fire past a stranded Wilson into the net. Substitute Helmo Silva came close to getting himself on the scoresheet when Wilson turned his curling shot around the far post. It was soon 6-0 though on 82 mins when Hunter's powerful effort smashed off the underside of the bar and bounced over the line, the goal given by the referee after consulting with his linesman.

The final goal of the afternoon went to Thackley who scored a deserved consolation in injury time. Asa Mitchell beat defenders just inside the box and beat Harding with a low shot.

A cracking result for Paul Marshall's men against a side only one place below us in the table before kick-off and hitherto with an unbeaten run here stretching back thirteen years. Three wins in three now as we take (another) break from league action to stage our County Cup 3rd round tie against Eccleshill United (kick-off 7:45pm).