Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
Armthorpe Welfare 1-1 Parkgate
Tempers fray during Parkgate’s 1-1 draw with Armthorpe Welfare. Picture: Steve Pennock
Jack Waldron’s late equaliser for Armthorpe Welfare cancelled out in-form Alex Lill’s opener for Parkgate as the survival battlers shared a point.
The draw may turn out to be more useful to Parkgate than Armthorpe, whose hopes are of staying up are hanging by a thread.
Despite a frantic last 12 minutes neither Welfare or Parkgate were unable to score the winning goal they both desperately needed.
Given the importance of the game to both sides it was perhaps unsurprising that the first half was a cagey affair with little goalmouth action. It took 24 minutes before the first real effort of the game came when Parkgate’s Danny Harris shot over from just inside the box.
Four minutes later goalkeeper Liam Copley came out of his goal to challenge for a loose ball which ricocheted onto his arm with the referee immediately awarding a free-kick and cautioning Copley. The resulting free kick was fired harmlessly wide.
Parkgate took the lead in the 56th minutes when a free header in midfield sent Lill racing clear and he fired past Copley from the edge of the box.
The goal prompted a Welfare reshuffle with Reuben Pearse replacing Jason Kearsley and Jack Waldron moving up front. It was Waldron who had Welfare’s first real effort at goal on 68 minutes when he had a header well saved by Ben Hunter following a Liam Radford cross from the left.
Welfare equalised on 78 minutes when Waldron stole in at the near post to flick a high, looping ball into the box by Gary Collier past a static Hunter.
The game suddenly came to life with Copley pulling off a good save to push away a 25 yard shot from Harris on 84 minutes whilst Waldron had another header pushed away by Hunter moments later.
Desperate for a winning goal, Welfare surged forwards with Craig Aspinall having a 15 yard shot blocked following another Radford cross on 90 minutes and 3 minutes into stoppage times Welfare had claims for a penalty turned down when Collier was felled as he broke into the box.
Then, at the death Hunter pushed another Waldron effort behind for a corner from which a downwards header from Ethan Nelson was turned over the bar by Aspinall from almost on the line.
The Teams
Armthorpe Welfare: Copley, Nelson, Gowen, Collins (Chapman 74), Gibbons, Waldron, Bonser (Johnston 62), Aspinall, Radford, Collier, Kearsley (Pearse 58).
Parkgate: Hunter, Lannaman, Hirst, Dacre, Zalo, Alali, Howard, Emmett, McDonnell, Hill, Harris. Subs: Thornton, Mbeka, Lufudu, Thornton.
Thanks to Steve Pennock for this report.