Garforth Town 0-1 Yorkshire Amateur
Super-sub Ash Flynn cruelly settled the East Leeds El-Clasico by scoring with the last kick of the game to devastate brave ten man Garforth Town and win it for promotion-chasing Yorkshire Amateur.
Flynn had only enjoyed a few touches in his ten minute cameo in the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division derby before latching onto Leon Henry’s hopeful ball forward in the dying seconds.
Garforth’s worn-out players collapsed to the ground after an epic effort which had nearly earned them a victory, despite playing with ten men for most of the second half after Jack Lazenby was controversially sent off.
Gibraltar International Adam Priestley was Garforth’s hero in August. He was wearing the away colours of the Ammers on this occasion having crossed Leeds in October.
Garforth’s defence, led by the excellent Sam Denton, kept him relatively quiet before he was replaced late-on by Flynn.
The Ammers had the bulk of the ball in the first half, without doing anything with it. The visitors passed the ball around at the back, but Paul Marshall’s Garforth soaked it up and in a half of few chances, had the most noteworthy moments.
Although visiting goalkeeper Ed Wilczynski was not called to make a save, Denton saw a header go over, while Helmo Silva’s spectacular overhead was deflected out for a corner.
The El-Clasico opened up in the second half as the Ammers twice breached Garforth’s back-line. After careful build-up, former Farsley Celtic striker Aiden Savory went through, but blazed over. The same player in a separate chance sent a sting effort towards the bottom corner and was denied by an excellent save from Toby Wells.
Sparks flew on the hour as challenge with Henry and Garforth’s Lazenby ended with the pair squaring up. There was a nondescript coming together, followed by 18 men piling in for a game of handbags.
Mr Dutton and his assistants Mr Cogil and Mr Warner cannot have been too sure what happened as it took them three minutes to decide to excitably show the red card to Lazenby – that was it despite a number of other contestants in line for at least a yellow card.
The red card only served to galvanise Garforth, who proceeded to run themselves into the ground – particularly striker Sam Barker. Instead of spraying the ball out wide and stretching Garforth, the Ammers surprisingly stuck to their game-plan by playing the ball through their narrow midfield. This played right into Garforth’s hands and for a long period, the home side looked more likely to score.
Numerous times when the ball was played into middle of the park, with the crowd behind them Garforth won it back and countered. Several corners and throw-ins caused chaos in the Ammers box.
Whilst Wilczynski was never called to make a real save, he was beaten in the last few minutes when Joe Colley leapt like a salmon at the back-post. The celebrations had began as the ball appeared to be heading for the bottom corner. Some say it hit a divot. Whether it did or not is irrelevant as the ball flashed wide.
The Ammers, who at this point had thrown on Flynn and Roy Fogarty in search of a winner, were still always dangerous and prior to Flynn’s last gasp goal, Steve Crawford had gone through and seemingly blown their last chance when he delayed his shot, allowing the home side to clear.
Flynn’s winner keeps the Ammers in sixth behind Liversedge.
The Teams
Garforth Town: Wells, Beaston (captain), Leach, Coupland, Wrigley, Denton, Silva (Turner), Lazenby, Barker (Marshall), Colley, Hunter (Williams). Sub unused: Simpson.
Yorkshire Amateur: Wilczynski, Smith, Henry (captain), Daly, Field, Serrant, Crawford, Blakey, Savory, Priestley (Flynn), Sykes (Fogarty). Subs unused: McLachlan, Gregory, St Juste.
Who Was In Charge
Drew Dutton (6/10)
How Many Were There
183
Man of the Match
Sam Barker (Garforth Town)