WHITKIRK WANDERERS V FARSLEY CELTIC

“WE ARE (JOINT) TOP OF THE LEAGUE”

WHITKIRK WANDERERS 2-3 FARSLEY CELTIC

“WE ARE (JOINT) TOP OF THE LEAGUE”

Despite Alan Storey’s absence on a scouting mission in London there was a dense crowd in attendance in the glorious sunshine at Whitkirk for Farsley’s first away game of the season including a vocal following that had made the long journey from Throstle Nest.

Jack Downham had made the schoolboy error (to be fair though he is a schoolboy) of turning up in last season’s yellow kit and must have been fearing the inevitable ridicule from his team mates and coaching staff. Fortunately for Jack, Will Roberts had gone one better and turned up in his blue kit in a desperate attempt to distract everyone from the fact that he was late. An internal family inquest later established that both of these things were his Mum’s fault.

To ensure Will’s confidence wasn’t affected ahead of the big game Team Manager Palmer quickly organised a guard of honour and Roberts was clapped and laughed at by the whole squad. We understand this is known as “character building” in the Armed Forces and, although most of our readers will be unaware of this as he doesn’t like to talk about it unless there’s a vowel in the month, the team does have a link to the Forces as Corporal Palmer was once in the RAF.

The game kicked off and Farsley started brightly with close season big money signing David O’Brien testing the Whitkirk keeper with a smart shot with just 3 minutes on the clock.

Farsley continued to dominate the early exchanges with long range efforts from Olly Brierley and Tom Horgan failing to trouble the scoreboard operator.

After 10 minutes a rare Whitkirk attack saw their striker make a break into the Farsley box. An uncharacteristic challenge from the normally placid Olly Breirley left the referee with no alternative but to point to the spot. Although Brierley later claimed he had barely touched the Whitkirk attacker the fact that he ended up on the fifth row of the terracing behind the goal suggested otherwise. Ethan gambled on the Whitkirk striker blasting the ball up the middle…..and lost. 1-0 Whitkirk.

The boys in yellow (and one in blue) refused to let this early set-back affect their positive start and they continued to pile the pressure on the Whitkirk side. Great interplay down the right wing involving Will Grubb, Cam Storey and Tom Horgan resulted in a great chance but again the ball went agonisingly wide.

It seemed to be only a matter of time before the Farsley pressure told but, to the dismay of the travelling army (or RAF if you prefer) of Farsley fans a through ball slid under the foot of a Farsley defender leaving the Whitkirk striker through on goal. He held his nerve and, unbelievably, Farsley found themselves 2 goals down.

Lesser teams would have crumbled at this point but, as they had shown last week, this side is made of sterner stuff. Driven forward by the midfield dynamos of Jack Booth and Callum Chahal mixed with the guile and skill of Finaldo Beetham on the right the Celts peppered the Whitkirk goal with shot after shot but it seemed that it wasn’t to be their day.

Things could have got even worse when a third Whitkirk break from a long ball again left the striker through one on one with Ethan “the Cat” Cotton. Whitkirk must have thought they were going three nil up but they didn’t factor in the lightning reflexes of Cotton who kept his side in the game with a superb save low to his left.

With minutes ticking down until the break David found himself in the clear with only the keeper to beat. A deft chip looked certain to reduce the deficit but the keeper clearly hadn’t cut his fingernails for several weeks and he just got enough on the ball to prevent Farsley’s opening goal.

On the half hour the Celts made their first substitution of the game with Roberts, who had changed faster than Superman in a phone box, taking the field to replace Grubb. A special mention must go to Grubb, whose Achilles heel this season has been his Achilles heels, as he put his injury concerns behind him with an excellent performance in both defence and going forward.

Farsley’s territorial dominance continued until the break but the breakthrough just would not come and despite having 15 shots to Whitkirk’s 3 the half time score line was 2-0 to the home side.

This is when the coaching team really earns its money (well it would be if they got paid but you get the idea) and for the second week running whatever was said by Palmer, O’Brien and Cotton certainly did the trick as the boys in all yellow (now) emerged in the second half with a clear hunger to get back in the game.

Talk amongst the knowledgeable footballing crowd and Alan Calkeld suggested that an early goal could change the game and that’s just what they got. A great piece of work from Brierley saw the ball fall to Finaldo who smashed the ball across the keeper and Celtic were right back in the game.

The goal visibly lifted the Farsley team who went up another gear as the Whitkirk team began to wilt. The Farsley defence looked untroubled with some excellent challenges coming in from Roberts and Palmer. James Spruyt used his pace on power on several occasions to mop up a number of balls that were skilfully hoofed forward by the Whitkirk midfielders. Spruyt also began to press forward with his trademark runs that essentially involve using defenders as speed bumps.

Farsley were on a roll and, on 53 minutes, the pressure finally told with a clinical finish from David O’brien across the keeper found the corner of the net and the crowd went wild. 2-2. No sooner had the celebrations begun to die down the Farsley faithful were in dreamland as a long distance effort from the excellent Horgan hit the post. The ball fell to Beetham who showed footwork that Craig Revel Horwood would have been proud of to beat his man and find Storey on the edge of the box. Cam unleashed a screamer that left the keeper stranded and very nearly broke the net!! Despite almost bursting with pride inside Coach Palmer retained a calm exterior unlike fellow Coach O’Brien who was later admitted that he was so excited that “a bit of wee came out”.

Having taken the lead Farsley had to withstand a spell of pressure from Whitkirk. The defence repelled attack after attack and the clock seemed to stand still for the nervous Celtic spectators.

In the last 10 minutes Farsley began to reassert their dominance with strong running down the right from JD and some skilful play up front from George Lightfoot. After a wayward shot from Brierley Coach Palmer once again showed his man management skills with a shout of encouragement from the sidelines to keep his Captain’s confidence levels high “Good pass Olly – have a shot next time!”

With 7 minutes remaining it looked like Farsley had got the goal that would settle the match after Lightfoot crossed the ball in for Beetham to head home only for the referee to rule that the ball had already crossed the dead ball line.

A foul from Whitkirk 20 yards out provided Celtic with another chance to put the game to bed. This was definitely in Booth’s sweet spot but his well struck shot just went over the cross bar.

As time began to run out Whitkirk desperately tried to break down Farsley’s well drilled defence but this was where the hard yards in pre-season training paid off and Farsley’s superior fitness saw them through to secure a famous victory. For the second time in consecutive weeks the boys spirit and determination had seen them come from behind to win the game. It’s team spirit like this that wins trophies and Farsley now head back home for a top of the table clash next Sunday. Don’t miss it.

WHITKIRK WANDERERS 2

FARSLEY CELTIC 3
Beetham (42)
O’Brien (53)
Storey (55)

MOM: Storey

Attendance: 38