Match Report -
Farsley Keeper Dismissed
By Iain Benson
Celtic made it four home wins out of five with a second half performance that only had one outcome after Farsley's first choice keeper was dismissed for bringing down Meechan just outside his box.

The first half was even, with Briggs having a couple of efforts on target that required Aspden to be on his toes, whilst Phillips twice denied Reeves at the other end, one with a particularly fine save after rushing out to meet him and stopping the shot with his legs. Torpey and Meechan both got into excellent positions, but fired wide of the mark with strong shots on each occasion.

The turning point in the match came just before half time when Briggs threaded a ball through the Farsley defence for Meechan to run onto. Meechan did just that, dinking the ball past the onrushing Aspden with a clear run goal when the Farsley keeper took Meechan down knowing that he would walk for it, but it would have been a certain goal had the keeper not done that. Torpey's free kick after the sub keeper, Gaynor, was brought on, struck the wall, came back to Briggs, who nodded wide through a crowd.

The second half was always going to be difficult for Farsley, and so it proved. Battersby's curling effort almost from the off was only narrowly wide, whilst Newbold was unlucky when he tried to bumble the ball across the line, only for D?Laryea to block on the line. After Torpey was upended near the sideline, Meynell's free kick was put out for a corner by D?Laryea. From the corner, Hardiker stole in in front of Gaynor, and nodded the ball home for the opening goal.

Meynell tried a curling effort almost immediately after, but the ball was wide by inches, before Smart blazed over when in space twenty-yards out on his return to the side. Newbold rounded Gaynor, who owed Krief a drink after the latter stuck out a leg to deny Newbold his first goal for Celtic, and Barlow's effort shot across the face with Gaynor watching and praying. Ellington was unlucky when he diverted Battersby's low cross towards the far post, only a fine save from Gaynor denied him, though the referee decided it was a goal kick. Gaynor staked a claim for a first team place with a series of saves with ten minutes to go to keep his side in the hunt, first denying Ellington with a strong parry, before getting across to deny Meechan as the Celtic man fired low from an acute angle. Briggs's effort from close range produced an exceptional reaction save from the stand-in keeper. With the seconds ticking away, Meechan drove a shot in after bringing in a corner, but once again, Gaynor produced the goods.

There had been scares at the Celtic end, but a combination of good defending with a healthy dose of luck kept Farsley at bay.

With both Droylsden and Alfreton winning, the three points were vital today.

1Aspden, CurtisRed Card 
2Aspin, Mike  
3Green, Darren  > 39
4Walton, Chris  
5Jackson, Mark  
6DLaryea, Nathan  
7Tuck, Lee  
8Krief, Dominic  
9Reeves, Dominic  
10Grant, Gareth  
11Prendergast, Rory  
12Malcher, Luke  
14Penford, Tom  
15Iqbal, Shazad  
16Strickland, Kenny  
17Gaynor, Ben  < 39
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