Report

A Consett side missing seven first-teamers fought a brave rearguard action at Garforth Town, but fell just short, losing 2-1.

Manager Jason Miller had to give two players their first starts of the season, and his bench contained five teenagers for the trip to the Bannister Prentice Stadium.

Jack Ledger came in for his full debut, while David Allasan started a game for the first time in 11 months as he continues his comeback from a serious injury.

Three youngsters from the club’s Reserves were on the bench, and two of them – Harry Clark and Alfie Doran – came on for their debuts. The third, Luke Emery, was an unused substitute.

Consett came under pressure from the start, and almost fell behind in the 12th minute, when Owen Marshall had a header cleared off the line. Two minutes later Luke Aldrich should have scored, but fired over the bar.

Garforth bombarded the Consett box with crosses, but the defence held out until the 36th minute when right-back Harry Colville’s dinked cross in from the right saw Harry Moss and Liam Colledge contest the ball with Luke Aldrich, with the ball ricocheting into the net. Although it looked like an own goal, the No 9 claimed the goal,

Moss needed treatment after the goal, but was able to carry on. Garforth thought they’d doubled their lead five minutes later with an almost identical passage of play, but this time an offside flag came to Consett’s rescue and they went into the break trailing 1-0.

Half-time: Garforth Town 1 Consett 0

The second half saw the Steelmen pose much more of an attacking threat, and they deservedly equalised in the 54th minute.

Some good interplay between Charlie Exley, Allasan and Brendon Daniels down the left saw the skipper surge into the box and pull the ball back for Will Constantin, whose shot was deflected in off the chest of Eddie Thomas.

Consett’s tails were up, and they were a whisker away from taking the lead in the 62nd minute when Allasan’s cross from the left caught in the wind and was heading for the top corner until keeper Harry Flatters pawed it away from under the crossbar.

But they suffered a body blow on 73 minutes when Garforth sub Mutty Al-Jahadhmy turned his man and planted a low shot past Moss into the far corner to make it 2-1.

Consett brought on Clark and Doran to give them some fresh legs on the third heavy pitch they’d played on in a week, and their best chance of finding a second equaliser came in added time when Exley rose highest in the box to meet Daniels’ free-kick, but couldn’t direct his header on target.

At the final whistle, the small band of travelling supporters warmly applauded the efforts of a team which was down to the bare bones, and gave everything on a cold, windy night, only to head home empty-handed.

MATCH REPORT & PICTURES: GARY WELFORD