Bradford (Park Avenue) 1-1 Spennymoor Town
Bradford (Park Avenue), coming off the back of a 3-2 win against Telford, faced Spennymoor Town, who have been struggling in recent times, losing four consecutive games.
This was the perfect chance for Bradford to climb up the table and they started the game on the front foot looking to do so.
Brad Dockerty ran onto a flick-on from Adam Nowakowski, barely two minutes in and fired a shot in but narrowly missed and it went wide of the post. The two combined again with Dockerty continuing to cause problems and latching onto a through ball before taking his shot which was once again, barely wide of the goal.
However the away side had the first attempt on target, thanks to Joe Taits pass for Ramshaw to latch onto and test Saltimer the keeper who easily saved. After half an hour of a rather uneventful first half the deadlock was broken.
And it was The Moors who got it though their captain Glenn Taylor. A long free kick was launched upfield, and the ball dropped to the skipper who took a touch and arrowed the ball into the bottom corner.
Avenue looked to be struggling towards the end of the half and things nearly took another bad turn for them when Spennymoor almost doubled their lead, minutes after scoring their first. Rob Ramshaw drove forward and his powerful effort unluckily struck the post. A Taylor strike was all that separated the teams at the break.
Just like the first half, the hosts began the brightest. A great interception from Tait denied Reece Staunton a goal five minutes in, before Moors goalkeeper Dale Eve came to the rescue for them, smothering a sliding effort and then stopping Nowakowski from a tight angle.
Rueing tons of missed chances, Avenue nearly cost themselves when Taylor almost got his brace but Nicky Clee was there to head it off the line and to safety.
With Bradford still trying to find a way back into this game after Spennymoor’s rare chance, Clee burst into the box and was brought down, resulting in a penalty for the Green Army.
Dockerty stepped up and slotted his spot kick past Eve to level the scores with 20 left to play.
The goal raised tensions and each team had some half chances towards the closing stages but neither could find a winner.
The draw leaves Avenue in 17th, now 4 points clear of the bottom two.
Guiseley 0-2 Hereford
Relegation threatened Guiseley hosted Hereford in a match where only two points separated them beforehand.
The game started positively for The Lions when Jamie Spencer’s goalbound shot was deflected and was almost headed in at the back post by Shaun Tuton.
Another great chance came for Guiseley on 28 minutes – a corner from Lewis Hey found the head of Lebrun Mbeka but his header couldn’t find the target and instead floated over the crossbar.
Hereford began to make their way back into the game towards the end of the first half with a deflected shot ending up in a corner which had to be cleared off the line from Hey.
On the 45 minute mark, McLean picked up the ball on the edge of the area for Hereford and cut it back, however it took a ricochet and found its way across to Ryan Lloyd who fired home to put the visitors 1-0 up at the interval.
A quiet beginning to the second half meant it took 15 minutes for either team to have a real chance, and it was The Bulls who did that.
Tom Owen-Evans latched onto a through ball and almost made it two but ˜keeper Brad Wade was off his line quickly to smother the ball and prevent the attack. Three minutes later and the away side were through again.
This time through Ryan McLean who, at one on one with Wade, somehow managed to blast the ball way over the bar, luckily for The Lions.
However, their luck had run out less than a minute later when McLean redeemed himself with a shot towards the bottom corner to double the lead for Hereford.
Regan Hutchinson had the chance to bring Guiseley back into the game as Hey laid the ball off to him but his shot went wide of the goal.
Another shot came flying in with 13 minutes to go from Luke Hall, but it flew the wrong side of the post, unfortunately for the hosts.
Another great chance was gifted to Guiseley, as the referee indicated a penalty with less than 10 minutes to go. Captain Jamie Spencer stepped up and agonisingly skied it way over the bar, although it did get pulled back for the double-strike.
The score ended 2-0 to the visitors at Nethermoor which leaves The Lions in 19th, on the same amount of points as all the teams sitting below them. In a relegation scrap, they travel to bottom of the league Blyth Spartans, hoping to pick up a first win in 4 games.
Gloucester 2-0 Farsley Celtic
Another team struggling at the bottom end of the table was Farsley Celtic who were managed by Neil Ross for the first time since he was put in permanent charge. They came up against Gloucester City, who had only recorded one league win this season.
However, they began in search of a second one as Oliver Hulbert opened the scoring for the home side.
It couldn’t have been much easier for him as he latched onto Lewis Turner’s backpass and took it round the keeper, allowing the striker to roll into an open goal. Almost making up for that costly mistake,
Turner received the ball after a brilliant run from Scales, and fired a shot in but Tigers Jake Cole was there to palm it out.
Again, Farsley were close to the leveller just before half time when Will Hayhurst’s free kick went through the crowd of players but struck the woodwork, maintaining Gloucester’s 1-0 lead at the break.
Within 10 minutes of play getting back underway, Gloucester had already threatened with two great chances, but both of them went wide of the goal.
The Celts began to deal with the pressure well, having a couple of chances for themselves.
First Tyler Walton’s low shot was pushed away by Cole, before Jimmy Spencer’s shot was prevented via a deflection.
Despite creeping back into the game, Farsley couldn’t cope with threat Oliver Hulbert who made it two from a strike on the counter attack.
The game was sealed with a Hulbert brace and Farsley may say that the scoreline didn’t reflect the game at all, but it doesn’t change that they dropped down to 18th, sandwiched in between Guiseley and Bradford Park Avenue.
The next game for the Celt Army is a huge one and a Yorkshire derby when they host Bradford PA.