Salisbury City 1-1 Farsley Celtic
By James Grayson
A disastrous Amjad Iqbal own-goal with five minutes remaining denied Celtic three deserved points away at Salisbury City.
John Deacey made two changes to his side that drew 0-0 with Weymouth on Tuesday. Rory Prendergast came back from suspension and replaced Simeon Bambrook. Amjad Iqbal who was unavailable on Tuesday came in for the suspended Andy Watson.
The first half was dour affair; it took 12 minutes for the 1 st half-chance. A Salisbury free-kick was headed wide by Andrew Sandell but without troubling Curtis Aspden.
Salisbury nearly took a surprise lead on 31 minutes. The referee decided not to penalise Liam Feeney for a push and he managed to be away and clear. Feeney crossed on the left-side and Ashley Barnes charged into the box to meet the cross. Barnes – from six yards beat Craig Bentham to head the ball at goal. Barnes with a goal-bound header made Aspden make a great save by palming the ball wide for a corner.
Chances were slowly arriving and Prendergast could have put Celtic ahead on 40 minutes. A defensive mistake was latched onto by the left-wing wizard and he raced in on goal. Ryan Clarke came out of his goal and did enough to narrow the angle for Prendergast to shoot at. Prendergast shot from just outside the area but the keeper matched the effort with a great save.
Just before the break, Damian Reeves crossed for Steve Torpey who despite being unmarked, headed well wide.
HT 0-0
The press box was waiting for something entertaining to come along and they didn’t have to wait long. Celtic kicked off and were straight on the attack. The ball eventually found Stephen Downes and he crossed on the dead-ball for REEVES to toe-poke the ball into the net via Clarke’s legs – JUST!!
Celtic had found their way and more chances were arriving, a few minutes after the goal Reeves’ 20 yard effort was blocked. At the other end Iqbal made a great last ditch tackle to deny Feeney.
It wasn’t the prettiest but Celtic were ahead, playing and defending well. Just past the hour mark, Georges Santos was yellow carded for delaying the restart.
Salisbury made changes and their two substitutes looked dangerous on both occasions. One of them – Robert Sinclair had a shot charged down by Santos on 71 minutes.
The chances to kill the game came in the last 15 minutes. Firstly; Bentham went on a good run in midfield and he laid in Reeves. Reeves decided to take a touch and the shot he eventually let-off was well saved by Clarke.
But the chance what turned the game in Salisbury favour came on 84 minutes. Prendergast darted through the middle of the park and passed to Reeves who found himself one-on-one with Clarke. But again Clarke denied Reeves and Celtic from a goal-bound opportunity just outside the area.
Salisbury went straight on the attack and Sinclair crossed into the box aiming for Barnes. Barnes headed back across goal and it smashed IQBAL on the back of the head and the ball just fell back into the back of the net past Aspden who had no-chance.
Celtic held on and Prendergast nearly won the game in injury time but Barnes denied him. But a point is better than a defeat.
FT 1-1
Salisbury City: Ryan Clarke, Robinson, Darrell Clarke, Bass (Sinclair 64), Cook, Turk, Sandell, Bartlett, Barnes (Tubbs 64), Feeney, Asafu- Adjaye. Unused Subs: Bittner, Brown, Bond.
Farsley Celtic: Aspden, Jackson, Prendergast, Bentham, Scott McNiven, Krief, Santos, Iqbal, Downes, Reeves, Torpey. Subs Unused: Backhouse, Knowles, Stamer, Heath
