WALTON PEGS BACK THE BEES
TYLER Walton’s strike seven minutes into the second half earned Farsley Celtic a well-deserved replay against National League Barnet.
Simeon Akinola had given the visitors an early lead, only for his effort to be cancelled out by Walton’s strike, and they will have to do it all again at The Hive on Tuesday night.
Farsley Celtic Manager Adam Lakeland was delighted with his side’s performance, as he said: “It was a great performance, I thought we were excellent.
“I wasn’t too pleased with how we played in the first 20 minutes. I thought we were a bit frantic, lacked composure when we were trying to get into the strikers, and didn’t really clear our lines which is where their goal came from.
“Second half, I felt we edged it, we were the better team and there’s a sense of disappointment that we’ve got to replay the game because I felt we had a couple of opportunities at the end where I thought we should have won the game.”
The higher-ranked visitors started the brighter, looking to take the game to Farsley, and were rewarded with the lead 10 minutes in.
Farsley failed to clear their lines and Akinola was able to bend an inch-perfect strike into the top corner from the edge of the box.
Barnet then had a couple of chances to extend their lead, Ephron Mason-Clark dragging wide from the edge of the box before David Tutonda whipped an excellent cross across goal that Cheye Alexander turned over.
Farsley’s first effort on target came midway through the first half as Jimmy Spencer’s strike from a tight angle was pushed away by the Bees keeper Scott Loach.
That sparked a run of six consecutive corners for the hosts but Darren Currie’s men stood strong to maintain their lead.
The Celt Army’s best chance to draw level in the opening period came in added time when Dave Syers – making his 500th career appearance – headed Will Hayhurst’s cross agonisingly over the crossbar.
Farsley started the second-half as they finished the first and were rewarded with an equaliser eight minutes in – the ball dropping kindly to Walton, pushed further up the pitch in the second period, who slotted the ball under Loach.
The equaliser seemed to bring Barnet back to life, and they would have been in front if not for an excellent save from Elliot Wynne who made an excellent stop to palm away Charlee Adams’ powerful strike.
The big chance for the visitors came with just over 10 minutes remaining as Akinola was able to bring the ball down in the box. However, this time he curled just over. Anything morewould have been harsh on Farsley, and it was they who fashioned the final chance of the game. Unfortunately, Ben Atkinson volleyed just wide of the target in the very last minute.