Lancaster City 3 - Harrogate Railway Athletic 0:
REF STOPS GAME WITH CITY TWO UP ON 70 MINS
In atrocious conditions, Lancaster looked set to pick up their tenth league win of the season against Harrogate. Two goals up and crusting with twenty minutes remaining, referee Craig Buxton inexplicably chose to stop proceedings.
The away side were visibly relieved to have play halted and the game re-arranged. It seemed as though City were to produce an onslaught in the pouring rain. Although after the opportunity’s Harrogate had in the first 45 minutes, it could easily have been the other way round.
After just three minutes, Neil Ross’s scuffed shot made it’s way to Naill O’Brien six yards out, but he somehow put the ball over. However, the goal wouldn’t have stood, as O’Brien came from an offside position. The midfielder then had another effort shortly after, this time from 30 yards, but his shot was straight at City stopper Martin Fearon.
After five minutes the hosts opened the scoring. Rob Henry slipped in Paul Jarvis on the right and his low cross found Jordan Connerton. The striker flicked the ball on forcing ‘keeper James Mann into an unbelievable low save, but he only parried it to Roger Sharrock, who slid in to score. Halfway through the first period Adam Farrell and Dominic Ward exchanged a neat one-two just inside the box, but Farrell’s shot was right at Mann. Harrogate striker Ben Jones then had a great chance to level things up, yet his smashed effort from 12 yards flew wide. With seven minutes left until half-time Jordan Connerton’s pass way out on the right fell to Adam Farrell in acres of space, but he didn’t pull the trigger early enough. He allowed a defender to get back, which forced him to transfer to his stronger right-foot and the eventual shot was again straight at James Mann. Then Ben Jones’ header from 6 yards rebounded off the bar for Harrogate. A comedy moment occurred a minute before the break. Mann came charging out of his goal to sweep up and he ended up having to head out. Connerton then hit the ball on the bounce from way out with Mann scrambling back. The high ball in the swirling wind was caught by Mann but then dropped inches wide of the post. Lancaster made the game safe (or would have been safe) soon after the restart. Rob Wilson’s long run resulted in him poking to Connerton in the box, whose shot found the bottom corner. Another hilarious event came when Connerton’s shot on the turn resulted in Mann having to dive into the mud bath that inhabited the middle of the six-yard box.
Harrogate then thought they were back in it three minutes prior to the game’s abandonment. A one-two between Phil Mitchell and Ben Jones ended in Mitchell slotting past Fearon, but the linesman’s flag prevented the goal from standing. Then Mitchell’s through ball found Jones but his shot hit Fearon’s legs, and Zaphaniah Thomas’ tame volley from 18 yards was cleared off the line by Dolly Blue skipper Michael Stringfellow. Then came the referee’s decision to stop the play in the middle of a Harrogate attack. Apart from a small puddle on the centre spot and the obvious and expected mess in both the goalmouths, the pitch was no worse than it had been before kick-off. These were the feelings of the Lancaster players and staff, who surrounded the referee after the match. City are now 5th in the table, level on points with Halifax in 4th, but both teams have 5 games in hand on the top three, who have played 16 games each.
Lancaster City: Martin Fearon, Rob Henry, Neil Marshall, Andrew Teague, Dominic Ward, Paul Jarvis, Rob Wilson, Jordan Connerton, Adam Farrell, Roger Sharrock.
Harrogate Railway Athletic: James Mann, Dan Thirkell, Zaphaniah Thomas, Nigel Danby (booked), Daniel Verity (booked), Jackson, Naill O’Brien (Steve Robinson, 64), Paul Stansfield (Craig Smith, 64), Ben Jones, Neil Ross, Phil Mitchell.
Ryan McMenamin
Saturday 7th November 2009
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