Non League Blog

After a near no-football Christmas break, I'm back!

Farsley Celtic was my destination on Saturday and their opponents were Histon.

Histon are flying high in the Blue Square Premier in their first year so it was always going to be a tough test for Farsley.

Everything seemed to be going in Farsley's favour especially when they were awarded a penalty on nine minutes. Right-back Steven Downes stepped up and put Farsley in the lead.

Then on 17 minutes Farsley's Damien Reeves was gifted with a glorious chance. However with only the goalie to beat from 12 yards he shot way-way-way-way wide.

The chance came back to haunt Farsley on 23 and 24 minutes. Firstly from poor marking from a corner, Nathaniel Knight-Percival headed home easily. Then 43 seconds later Farsley were behind. Mark Hotte needlessly slid in on a Histon attacker and this resulted in the attacker being able to cross for Antonio Murray to net from close range.

In the second half Farsley had a 10-15 spell from pressure on the Histon goal but they were unable to equalise.
But the referee more-or-less finished off Farsley's chances of an equaliser. Farsley's Amjad Iqbal committed three fouls all game but was sent off for a second-book-able offence on 70 minutes. This ruined the game.

The damage was done and Murray beat the offside trap late on and made it 3-1.

Remember to tune in for Non-League-Know-How on Friday with Richard Stead and Paul Grayson. They will be previewing the coming weekend's fixtures including Alfreton V Farsley in the FA Trophy.

James Grayson