Nostell striker Alex Booker came back to haunt his former club Garforth in Nostell’s 2-0 win.
Graham Nicholas was scathing in his assessment of Garforth Town’s performance as Nostell Miners Welfare propelled themselves off the foot of the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division table with a 2-0 win, writes James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson).
Garforth were blown away by Nostell, who recorded only their second league win of the season, inside the opening 20 minutes.
Former Garforth striker Alex Booker came back to haunt his old club with the first Nostell which was followed by Will Hayton’s free kick to earn them a deserved victory.
Garforth’s display was arguably their worst of the campaign and Nicholas pulled no punches.
“It was embarrassing,” he told Sports Performer.
“Credit goes to Nostell because they have worked hard in difficult conditions and on a difficult pitch. They got it down and played better than us and showed more determination and desire to win the ball than us.
“They thoroughly deserved their win tonight. I’m very disappointed with our performance though. It wasn’t good enough.
“I said to the players before to not be complacent and take the game lightly, but they obviously haven’t turned up and showed that desire.
“It was a very bad night all round and we weren’t prepared. We didn’t warm-up in the right way and not shown any kind of desire and emotion. We have underperformed and embarrassed ourselves and the club has been embarrassed.”
Just three minutes had gone when Nostell set the wheels in motion for an important win. The usually-reliable Jack Kirk gave away possession cheaply which allowed Hayton to cross and Booker to finish from close range.
Graham Nicholas described Garforth Town’s performance in the 2-0 defeat at Nostell as embarrassing
Nostell looked dangerous every-time they bombed forward during the first half and the 75-strong crowd could probably sense a second goal – although the referee Dean Bradshaw will be having nightmares about it.
After harshly awarding Nostell a free kick on the edge of the penalty area, Bradshaw allowed his assistant Colin Unwin to handle a Welfare substitution.
With Unwin still on the half-way line and taking ages to check Joe Penn for jewellery, the referee bizarrely allowed Nostell to take their free kick – even though he had no assistant in place to monitor the offsides.
Despite the referee’s error, Garforth can have no complaints about the goal as Hayton showed his experience by bending the ball around the wall and into the bottom corner past Michael Bathurst.
Garforth never threatened to mount a comeback. Bathurst was needed to keep the score down to two towards half-time when he denied the long-serving Darren Rushton.
The second half was a pretty non-event. The wind and rain helped Garforth enjoy a good ten minute period from which Nostell goalkeeper Ben Saynor made a couple of good saves from Joe Woodger and Joseph D’Antonio.
But the facts were that Garforth did not show up and Nostell were worthy winners and deserved to be celebrating going above Lincoln Moorlands Railway at the foot of the Division.
Nostell now have eight points and manager Darren Holmes was delighted at picking up three vital points.
“We were fired up from the start,” he said.
“We were really up for this game and the win has been coming. We played well at Basford and got nothing and played well at Brighouse and some of the top side and this is our just rewards.
“We have worked hard for this. It was a team performance tonight. I think we wanted it more and that’s because we’re fighting a relegation battle. Every game is a cup final for us.”
Nostell Miners Welfare: Saynor, Kellett, Ball, Moxon (Penn 17), Hill, Rushton, W Hayton, A Hayton (Smith 90), Booker (Bayjang 80), Johnson, Poole (captain). Subs unused: Marsh, Hamlet.
Garforth Town: Bathurst, Kirk (Alalli HT), Robertson, Hawksworth (captain), Smith, Reis, Rosenstrauch, Vandoornick (Woodger HT), Bower, Oyebanji (D’Antonio 61), Lyle. Subs unused: Woodhall, Helliwell.
Referee: D Bradshaw (South Yorkshire)
Ref Rating: 6/10
Attendance: 75
Man of the match: Alex Booker (Nostell Miners Welfare)