Town This Week!- Two Points Dropped Against Farsley Celtic.

Credit- Sean Walsh

Ah what could've been. A game in which Town probably should've taken home all three points but were unable to find a way to put the ball in the back of the host's net. 

While it could be looked as a point on the road, it felt more like two points dropped in a really good chance for Town to get a first league win since Buxton in late December and a first away win since Radcliffe in early October. A trip to the Silverlands Stadium to take on hosts away from home, Farsley Celtic, was an intriguing relegation six pointer in which both sides desperately needed three points to gain a gap away from the bottom four.

Town seemed to be in a positive position going into the game, having signed Daniel Vost and Lee Williams on loan deals from Huddersfield Town and Stockport County respectively and Craig Noone finally having international clearance to play. Both loanees found themselves starting with Noone having a place on the bench, a surprising move with midfielders Bohan Dixon and Mikey O'Niell on the bench. Notable absences from the squad were Edy Maieco (dual registration with Macclesfield) and Tuesday's goalscorer Matty McDonald (Suspension). Evan Gumbs and Andy White continued to remain out of the squad through injury. 

The first half was dull to be quite frank. Town lacked in composure especially in the midfield with Vost struggling to get his foot on the ball and Amaral and Harris mainly sweeping up tackles after the ball was hoofed forward to a lone Josh Amis. The forward line seemed particularly lackluster as Morris lacked the physicality ,in moments, to get past his fullback and run onto one of Amis' chested down balls. Williams, however, impressed in the first half with his pace and physicality being particularly tricky for Farsley to deal with. The closest either side came to a goal was a header from Morris, which was tipped past the near post by the Farsley keeper. Hoofball continued however and Town continued to struggle stringing passes together as they went into the break. 

The second half was a completely different story. Town looked very strong and did everything but put the ball in the net with chances from Morris and a sprite Mikey O'Niell coming very close to an opener. A big difference came from the half time substitutions of O'Niell and Bohan Dixon, who had stand out performances in their second half cameos. The Yellows looked increasingly likely to score and were handling themselves well at the back with an impeccable performance coming from Ollie Southern to deny several attacking opportunities from a pacey Farsley frontline. The closest Town came was a looping effort from debutant Williams, as he hit the crossbar before the ball was eventually cleared. Town pushed and pushed and came close at the death with Hamish Douglas having a shot cleared off the line but it wasn't to be as the referee blew up for full-time. 

The point was disappointing to say the least as relegation rivals Radcliffe, Rushall Olympic and Needham Market all picked up three points. The result has Town moving down to 20th, only out of the bottom four by goal difference, and could see us move into the relegation zone with teams with Marine, Rushall, Needham and Farsley all in action on Tuesday. This leaves all the pressure on next Saturday as we embark on our longest away day to Needham Market in a must win game. It's very hard to see Town staying up if we don't pick up all three points as we very realistically could be sitting bottom of the league this time next week. A striker is still a big miss in this squad as we have scored a measly 22 goals this season, the third lowest in the division, and don't look like scoring with any of our current forwards on the pitch. Hopefully this can change but we may need to accept we will be playing Northern Premier League football next season.