Evo Stik Division One North
Ossett Town 2-0 New Mills
Simon Rogers runs into the arms of jubilant Ossett Town manager Grant Black after scoring the winner against Harrogate Railway earlier this month. Picture: Mark Gledhill
Ossett Town will be playing Evo Stik football next season after completing their survival mission by seeing off winless New Mills at Ingfield.
The result relegates local rivals Harrogate Railway back to the Toolstation Northern Counties East League. Three wins in the space of six days have secured safety with a week to spare, the job Grant Black set out to do when he took over an Ossett side that looked doomed back in February.
Basement side New Mills threatened to upset the applecart early doors as there were a series of scrambles in the Ossett penalty area. Goalkeeper Thomas Beaurepaire also made two decent saves.
But as the half progressed, Ossett began more and more dominant. A succession of set-pieces saw Ossett cause problems – eventually telling when defender Simon Rogers pounced to score for the third time in four games.
With survival in sight, Ossett were not going to throw it away now. The loss of star striker Danny Frost, whose goals have kept Ossett up, to injury at half-time was a concern, but David Brown filled the void brilliantly.
Brown constantly breached the visitors’ defence and within seconds of coming on, goalkeeper Oliver Martin denied him. It was one-way traffic, but Ossett couldn’t find a way past Martin.
They had to wait until the final ten minutes to decisively seal the points – Alex Peterson getting the goal from Xander McBurnie’s through ball.
The Ossett players and management went off to a huge round of applause, a well-deserved one considering how they have galvanised themselves in the past two months.
Ossett Town: Beaurepaire, Hawksworth, Kilner, Monfredi (Payne 85), Rogers, Assenso, McBurnie, Ridley, Peterson, Frost (captain) (Brown 46), Mackie (Quinlan 90). Subs unused: L Schofield, J Schofield.
New Mills: Martin, Golden, Wilshaw, Rand, Pritchard (captain), Hopper, Brown (Woodhead 58), Jones, Adigun (McLoughlan 69), Hibbert, Williams. Subs unused: Revill, Gibbs, Stanway.
Referee: Mark Powell
Ref Rating: 8/10
Attendance: 93
Man of the match: Oliver Martin (New Mills)