Glasshoughton Welfare 1-1 (2-4p) Knaresborough Town
Greg Kidd hit the winning penalty as Knaresborough Town won the shootout at a packed Glasshoughton Welfare to progress into the preliminary round of the FA Cup.
Knaresborough had perhaps shaded it across the 90 minutes, but there was little to choose between the sides in the second half.
Dan Thirkell’s free kick gave Paul Stansfield’s Knaresborough a deserved first half lead until Ash Bell levelled for Glasshoughton on the stroke of half-time. After a bleak second stanza, penalties ensued and Knaresborough held their nerve.
The interest in the tie reached figures not seen at Glasshoughton in years. Almost 300 people watched on and certainly in the FA Cup’s case, Glasshoughton have not had excitement like it since the 2011 preliminary round replay with Ossett Town during the magical Craig Elliott years.
The lack of competitive football for five months across the country played a part – as seen with the attendance figures at other cup ties. As did Glasshoughton’s live appearance on Look North on hour before kick-off.
Chairman Jon Miles and joint manager Darren Holmes – appearing on the box just a few hours after a reported sighting of him leaving a local beauticians and hairdressers – promoted the occasion and certainly a few made a late dash to Leeds Road.
Those who made it for kick off saw a frantic start. Visiting talisman Brad Walker raced away and Glasshoughton only escaped conceding as goalkeeper Lewis French made a smart save.
Fast forward to other end and a mass scramble ended with Knaresborough goalkeeper Sam Lee denying Bell.
Thirkell then narrowly headed wide with a close range header. The former Harrogate Railway captain made up for the miss quite quickly as he took advantage of a poorly-assembled Glasshoughton wall to bend a free kick into French’s right-hand bottom corner.
One nearly became two as Walker galloped away, but French was again alert enough to deny him.
Despite having less chances, Holmes and Lee Vigars’ Glasshoughton were more than competitive and they hit back as half-time approached. Another goal-mouth scramble led to the visitors desperately trying to clear to no avail. Lee heroically made quick-fire double saves from goal-bound efforts from Mark Ferguson and then Bell. Ferguson’s second bite of the cherry – a rocket of an effort – hit a Knaresborough defender and went out for a throw-in.
From that corner, jubilation for the home side. Lee spilled the long throw and Bell was ready and waiting to score.
The second half unfortunately did not live up to the first. For large parts the half was as flat as a pancake.
Glasshoughton were much stronger in defence and only came under real pressure during two moments where crosses caused French some trouble.
Knaresborough goalkeeper Lee was untested and penalties seemed inevitable.
Glasshoughton missed their opening spot kick and initially trailed until the usually reliable Thirkell uncharacteristically blazed his penalty high over the crossbar and almost out of the ground and into a local resident’s back garden.
Lee saved his team-mates’ bacon by saving Glasshoughton’s fourth penalty – allowing Kidd to book a home tie with Workington in the next round.
The Teams
Glasshoughton Welfare: French, Mhlolo (Collier 65), Cunliffe, Youel, Walsh (captain), Gray, Horbury, Nelson (Milner 90), Ferguson, Carter (Holbrooke 81), Bell. Sub unused: Hunter.
Knaresborough Town: Lee, Powis (Bedford 93), Kidd, Thirkell, Anderson, Lenehan (captain), Wicks (Milsom 19), Parkes, Braga (Edmondson 58), Walker, Carr. Subs unused: Cook, Stevens-Neale.
Who Was In Charge
David Holbrooke (10/10)
How Many Were There
272
Man of the Match
Dan Thirkell (Knaresborough Town)
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page.
There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams so now as we slowly return to ‘action’, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
Like most organisations, we have been affected financially by the Coronavirus and because of the cancelled Lucille Rollinson Memorial Tournament, we are down on projected income for the year and we have incurred losses in the last few months.
We have not been hit as badly as other organisations, but we do need raise £2000 to put us back at the level we were at in mid-March and enable us to make a difference once again to our players’ lives in the future, without having financial worries. Several of our players are suffering from effects of the lockdown and we are determined to be in the strongest position possible to provide services for them.
Any amount raised above £2000 will be put towards new projects (when the world returns to normal) designed to further benefit people with disabilities and learning difficulties. You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.