Freak goal sees
AFREAKISH own goal stunned County on New Year’s Day as the Hatters were held to a late 1-1 draw with struggling Harrogate at Edgeley Park.
Jim Gannon’s men had toiled in the first half in a scrappy affair before stand-in captain Michael Clarke headed County into a second half lead on the hour mark.
But, as the hosts looked like sealing a sixth straight win, midfielder Gary Stopforth’s fifty yard pass back to goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe skewed underneath the foot of the Hatters number one and into the empty net.
Gannon had made just one change to the side which had earned all three points in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day, with goal scorer Courtney Meppen-Walters starting in midfield with captain Mark Ross again dropping to the bench.
The switch saw somewhat of a re-shuffle for the home side, with MeppenWalters deployed as a holding midfielder alongside the typically classy Lewis Montrose, whilst Sam Minihan filled in at right-back and Gary Stopforth utilised on the right on an attacking midfield three.
The Hatters started unusually sluggishly, with mid-table Harrogate arguably having the better chances on goal in a rather dour first-half.
Town’s leading goalscorer Jon-Paul Pittman found too much space inside the ‘D’ on the edge of the penalty area to unleash a fierce effort at goal, which Hinchliffe was able to hold on to as Harrogate sought just a second win in eleven outings.
County failed to really test the resolve of their visitors’ backline until just before the interval, when a flurry of quickfire chances fell to Kay Odejayi and Jimmy Ball.
Odejayi first cleverly chested down a Danny Lloyd cross into the path of the onrushing Ball, who let fly with a fizzed volley which skimmed just over the crossbar of Peter Crook in the Harrogate goal.
Then, from a nicelyweighted Montrose cross, Odejayi took an impeccable touch to find himself in on goal; only for the quick Crook to rush out of goal and deny the veteran forward, and half-time was signalled with no goals on the scoreboard.
The 34 year-old Nigerian, in excellent form as of late, endured a tough hour of football on the afternoon – although County believed Harrogate centre-half and captain Danny Ellis should have seen red for a number of fouls on Odejayi, and his secondhalf replacement Josh Amis.
Ellis, sporting a head bandage after an earlier cut to the forehead, was already on a booking when he cynically hauled down Odejayi after the break - before substitute Amis later turned Ellis only to be again brought down to deny a County break.
To the chagrin of the home crowd, both incidents earned a mere talking-to for the big centreback - although this appeared itrelevant when the Hatters finally found. the breakthrough.
Crook pulled off a fantastic one-handed save to deny a thunderbolt from Danny Lloyd on the half-volley, and from the resulting corner Jimmy