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| Dominic Knowles - two late goals to win it for Burnley |
For almost 87 minutes it had been an enjoyable game of football with both sides trying to play the right way, and in the first half in particular there were chances for both sides that were spurned.
It was Burnley who went in front on 24 minutes when Louie-Rae Beadle set up Joe McKee. The midfielder switched the ball onto his right foot and finished well for his first Burnley goal since signing as a professional.
Unfortunately the lead didn't last long. Dominic Knowles, who was to be the late hero, let the Garforth forward in nine minutes later and he made no mistake as he levelled the scores.
The second half saw little change and for much of it a draw looked the most likely outcome. Burnley introduced their four substitutes, one of who was Sol Ofia. The Nathan Dyer look-a-like caused them some problems with his movement and twice came close to restoring the lead.
In the 87th minute we looked as though we'd won it when Knowles headed home but the game was far from over.
A minute later one of the Garforth players was sent off. Now if anyone can explain it to me I'd be very grateful but no one in the stand appeared to be any wiser than I was.
I'd had concerns about the referee all night once I'd realised he looked very like Richard Beeby. There may have been good reason for the dismissal but it's certainly a reason I'm not aware of.
Even so, ten man Garforth stormed forward to draw level in the very last minute of normal time, but it still wasn't over as Knowles got through again to clinch it for the Clarets.
It was an enjoyable evening with some decent individual performances from our lads and we were made very welcome by our hosts.
The teams were;
Garforth Town: Ben Higginson, Caldon Henson, Chris Fisher, Matt Dempsey, Ashley Westcarr, Jamie Price, Ben Thornton, Oliver Hotchkiss, Paul Walker, Chris Howarth, Adam Priestley. Subs (all used): Andy Villerman, Ben Small, Fernando Moke, Dempsey Smith, Daniel Turley.
Burnley: Josh Cook, Anthony Glover (Aryn Williams 71), Neil Yadolahi, Alex Coleman (Tom Anderson 59), Dave Lynch, Joe McKee, Alex-Ray Harvey, Ross Wilson (Shay McCartan 71), Dominic Knowles, Mehdi Lazaar (Sol Ofia 65), Louis-Rae Beadle.