Carl Stewart returned to the Tadcaster side and scored the decisive second goal in the 2-0 win over Parkgate
Tadcaster Albion are back to winning ways after beating Parkgate 2-0 at home to move eight points clear at the top of the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division table.
Returning strikers Josh Greening and Carl Stewart scored the goals – the former finding the net after two minutes and then the latter in the closing stages.
Parkgate were never going to roll over. Steve Adams’ hard-working side have picked up two vital wins in the past ten days which has lifted them further away from the relegation zone.
The pressure was on Taddy to respond from the narrow defeat at title rivals Shaw Lane last week and Paul Marshall couldn’t have wished for a better start for his team.
Parkgate had the ball in their own box and Scott Lowe’s half-baked clearance fell straight to Greening, injured for the trip to Shaw Lane, and Taddy’s top-scorer simply fired low and hard into the bottom corner.
The visitors could have folded there and then like Retford and Armthorpe, who both received wallopings from Taddy earlier in the season.
They did have to survive ten minutes of further solid pressure, but their defence soon acclimatised.
Jamie Bailey, Shaw Lane’s goalkeeper at the start of the campaign, made good saves from Calum Ward and Paddy Miller as the first half wore on.
Parkgate probably felt they should have levelled on the stroke of half-time. Against the run of play, Adam Stapleford-Jones broke away and narrowly missed the target with committed goalkeeper Tom Morgan beaten.
Tadcaster’s comeback kid Danny Gray wasted a glorious opportunity at the start of the second half before Stapleford-Jones missed a similar chance.
There was tension in the air as the game closed out with Tadcaster fans fearing a dramatic Parkgate equaliser.
Those doubts were erased when Stewart arrived on the pitch as a substitute.
It took just three minutes for Stewart, who missed the trip to Shaw because of work commitments, tapped home Ward’s cross from a matter of inches.
That secured the three points, but Tadcaster really upped the ante in the final stages and almost made the win more emphatic.
Ward was taken out by Callum Douglas and a penalty was awarded. Liam Ormsby’s penalties have earned Taddy a number of key victories this season, but Bailey was equal to him with a fine save to his right.
That concluded a competitive game played out in freezing conditions in front of a superb crowd of 285 – an exceptional attendance for a midway fixture.
Tadcaster Albion: Morgan, Bissett, Miller, Ormsby, Sparkes (Barrett 72), Ingram, Milne, Claisse, Gray (Brown 72), Ward, Greening (Stewart 77). Sub unused: Lawrie.
Parkgate: Bailey, Wragg, Douglas, Varley, Lowe, Wood (Doucutt 77), Johnson, Jones (captain) (Dawson 80), Stapleford-Jones, Foulds (Whittington 56), Longford.
Referee: Dave Storrie
Ref Rating: 8/10
Attendance: 285
Man of the match: Jamie Bailey (Parkgate)
Look out for the thoughts of Parkgate chief Steve Adams on Friday alongside other personalities from the Yorkshire Non League world.