Handsworth 3 Garforth 2

Manager Paul Marshall named a largely unchanged side from Saturday; Alex Burton came back into the first eleven, allowing Sam Barker to move back into midfield to replace an unavailable Joe Colley. On the bench there was a return for midfielder Duke Witter, who came off injured in the friendly win at Yorkshire Amateur.

In an exciting first half between two good footballing sides, it was Garforth who drew first blood five minutes in. A defensive error saw the ball find Alex Burton who played through James Burgess to finish low into the net. Sadly the lead was to last only 6 mins, when Handsworth equalized in bizarre fashion. Nana Nyarko's long throw into the box took a slight deflection off Jamie Barkway and went in off the far post, not that your match reporter was well-placed to see it. On 17 mins there were claims for handball when a Sam Barker shot was blocked in the area, but the referee waved play on. Town enjoyed most of the possession first half, but The Ambers looked dangerous on the counter, James Oliver in particular down the right. On 19 mins his dipping effort was just beyond the far post after outpacing his man. Moments later down the other end Barker and Charlie Marshall were agonisingly close to connecting with Burton's ball across the six-yard box.

On 32 mins Garforth found themselves behind. Another Nyarko long throw into the box wasn't dealt with and the ball was played back to Jordan Lonchar who fired low into the net. Akin to our opponents earlier however, Town grabbed themselves a quick equalizer five minutes later. Handsworth goalkeeper Ben Townsend went wandering near the corner flag only to be beaten by Burgess who crossed into the box. The ball was played back to captain Dan Coupland just outside who slammed low into the net. Townsend was back in goal by then, but could do little. Three minutes before the break Marshall came close to swinging the pendulum once more after some good play through the middle, but his shot was straight at Townsend.

The Ambers came out the better side after the break, culminating in them taking the lead themselves on 58 mins. Before then, Toby Wells denied Lonchar with his feet after the striker was supplied by Oliver, then tipping over the bar Tom Roebuck's header from a Lonchar free-kick. What would prove to be the winner arrived soon after when Roebuck half-volleyed Mitch Dunne's ball into the box beyond the dive of Wells. Burgess was unlucky not to equalize soon after when his powerful effort was turned round the far post. Wells made another save to prevent a fourth, and a second for Oliver, soon after, before Coupland corresponded with a low strike just beyond the far post.

With the hosts' attention turning to game management, Town were able to get forward more in the last twenty minutes, but the only chance of note didn't come until the six minutes of injury time when substitute Duke Witter made his way in from the left and shot just over the bar. A game in which we weren't quite at the levels seen in the second half of Saturday, but with the quality of players in the squad there's no reason why we can't bounce back. A fifth away game on the bounce follows this Saturday when we make the short journey to Thackley (kick-off 3pm).