Farsley Celtic recorded a seismic victory at The Citadel on Saturday as two first half goals from Chris Atkinson and Theo Williams sealed a 2-1 win over Gloucester City.
The Celts got off to the perfect start when after four minutes played, Chris Atkinson opened the scoring with a first time strike from outside of the box which deflected off of a Gloucester defender before rolling into the net.
Gloucester almost equalised instantly when Topo Obadeyi raced down the right wing, before crossing to Kieran Phillips whose header sailed marginally wide of the post.
The away side were given a golden opportunity to level the score on the half-hour mark when Max Dearnley collided with Ben Morgan, leading the referee to point to the spot. Up stepped Obadeyi who converted from 12 yards out to make it 1-1.
The match descended into chaos in the aftermath of the goal, with a brawl breaking out on the pitch which ended with both Atkinson and Phillips in the book, as well as a Gloucester fan being escorted out of the ground for invading the pitch.
Six minutes later and Farsley’s advantage had been restored when Theo Williams latched onto a Dave Syers throw-in, volleying in from the edge of the six yard box.
The start of the second half was a much calmer affair than the first, with the first effort on goal not coming until the 60th minute when Phillips turned Obadeyi’s cross wide, whilst Frank Mulhern saw a volley bounce to the wrong side of Hall’s near post.
What followed was an extremely tense twenty minutes at the Citadel with Gloucester launching an aerial bombardment on the Farsley penalty area. However the Celts remained resolute and limited Gloucester to very little in terms of chances.
Farsley continued to keep the away side at bay until the final whistle eventually came which was met by a huge cheer from a large crowd at The Citadel.
The result lifts Farsley back out of the relegation zone and into 19th place on 50 points, three points above Blyth Spartans who occupy the final relegation place.
The Celts’ final match of the season next week sees them away at Spennymoor Town where one point will be enough to ensure survival.
