5 STAR BEESTON CONTINUE TITLE MARCH

HORBURY TOWN 1 BEESTON ST ANTHONY'S 5
WEST YORKSHIRE LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION @ SLAZENGER SPORTS & SOCIAL
21 MAY 2016 --- 2.30PM

Three goals in the last 21 minutes took this game away from Horbury who for so long had stood toe to toe with the champions elect Beeston St Anthony's [BSA].  This highly entertaining encounter had seen the Leeds based side score 2 quick goals through Ben Haigh and Lee Turnbull before Horbury got right back onto it thanks to a Gibril Bojang strike.  The second half was a cracker, as was the first, with both sides missing chances and just as it looked odds on for a Horbury equaliser Beeston scored 3 through Dan Daly and a double from Aaron Connor to make the score a little harsh on the home side.
With the search to extend the non league season bringing games in The Cheshire League and West Yorkshire League after a few recommendations and meeting a chap last year at Dewsbury Rams rugby league club who spoke favourably about Horbury the decision was made to make the trip to Wakefield Kirkgate station for the short bus journey from the city to Horbury which is situated to the west and just short of Ossett.   The build up to the weekend game had seen me following the results of the West Yorkshire League and realising the importance of this game to BSA who are now 5 points ahead of Carlton Athletic and getting very close to the title it should be a fair old match.  Beeston are already piling up cups and their reserve side have just claimed the West Yorkshire Alliance League so off we set from base to the Slazenger Sports and Social Ground home of Horbury Town.  The club is so named after the sports equipment manufacturer who moved here following the purchase of William Sykes a competitor and until I believe the 1970s continued in production.  Indeed the sports grounds now contain, football, bowls, tennis and hockey and upon opening by Mrs Slazenger there was an exhibition tennis match by Dan Maskell and Fred Perry!  I knew the selected game was the right one when the bus journey to base station saw the chap sat by me carrying a Slazenger sports bag.

THE NEW IMPROVED KIRKGATE

Following departure at Kirkgate station which is gradually looking better externally it is superb but platform wise it still leaves a lot to be desired.  We made a quick off route journey to purchase a couple of umbrellas and how we needed them later!  Upon arrival at Wakefield bus station we were soon on the 127 to our destination and after a little look around the busy village we sampled chips and Yorkshire fish cake before climbing up towards the modern style St Peter and St Leonards Church before taking a look at the villages former 'lock up' and school.  We reversed our journey back down via the Post Office were refreshments were obtained.

HORBURY VILLAGE AN ATTRACTIVE BUSY CENTRE

Straight off the High St we made the short walk towards the ground passing over the railway line on a narrowing road to the club.  Horbury was previously home to 3 railway stations and its famous son is Stan Barstow the novelist.  Today though the main story with an hour to go was the need for our umbrellas because it was now thrashing it down we had a quick look at the ground before marching up to the social club for half an hour and a dry out.  The club house is a steady affair but situated a fair way from the pitch however it was dry and welcoming.

THE BUSINESS END AT HORBURY TOWN FC

After half an hour and approaching 2pm the rain subsided enough to allow us to make the journey back to the ground, thankfully with enough time to obtain todays teams thanks to the help from referee Arran Williams, who was very pleasant and was ringing bells with me.  During the game it came to me that in my previous interest at Clay Cross Town Fc the club had staged Cheterfield Development Squad fixtures and he had refereed one of the early ones, something that he confirmed afterwards when the blog caught up with him.

REFEREE WILLIAMS FROM CLAY CROSS TO HORBURY

To the ground then its in a lush setting with trees in leaf and lots of green all around, while mentioning green the pitch deserves massive credit it was in excellent condition, thumbs up for the Horbury grounds man.  Its grass standing all around with the pitch railed off with plastic style racecourse barriers only on a smaller scale!  Pitches surround the outside of the near goal and far side with the pitch sloping from the dressing room side down.

THE RAILWAY VIADUCT IN THE LEAFY DISTANCE

The dug outs are also on this side and behind the far goal is a railway viaduct which takes trains over the Calder and Hebble Navigation and towards the top corner the imposing sight of Emley Moor TV mast is in view so all in all a lovely setting except it was now lashing it down again.

EMLEY MOOR TV MAST OBSERVES THE ACTION

We were now sheltering in the grounds mans garage before moving pitch side at kick off.  Rain, why change the main player this season its been dominated by postponements indeed Poynton FC's Cheshire League game today was abandoned while in play die to waterlogging!   This area has The Reds snack bar offering the usual footy goodies, the changing rooms and the entrance area.

HERE COME THE TEAMS AND ITS STILL RAINING!

The game started at a fair old pace and Beeston were looking very confident and positive in their opening offerings and indeed they took the lead after 14 minutes when Daly crossed for Turnbull to guide a bullet header into the Horbury goal.

The second gaol came just three minutes later and you feared for the home side at this stage when Haigh fired home.  The blogs concerns were not necessary as Horbury battled back into the game and pulled a goal back on the half hour mark when Bojang [g] curled in a superb shot from 20 yards out to make it 1-2 at half time.

GIBRIL BOJANG PULLS A GOAL BACK FOR HORBURY TOWN FC

The second half started with Horbury looking the likely side to score first Joe Rossiter sliced a clearance out for a corner to the home side and from it Daly had to be alert to clear off the line from James Mountains effort.  The home side followed up with a cross goal effort that just needed a tap in and then visiting keeper Stevie Kerr did well to claw away a free kick.

On 62 minutes Beeston contributed to the goalmouth action when Lee Coleman crashed a header against the bar.  But on 69 minutes the game went away from Horbury courtesy of a tremendous strike from 25 yards out from Daly flew into the far right hand side of the net to make it 1-3.

With 10 minutes remaining substitute Aaron Connor drove home at the back post after audacious flick in the build up from Coleman.  Then with 4 minutes left Beeston got their fifth and Connor his second this time his flick over  the defender saw him re make contact with the ball before firing home past the Neil Horner in the Horbury goal.

Beestons challenge goes on and with Carlton Athletic also winning the excitement goes on into midweek and possibly next Saturday when BSA entertain non other than Carlton!
A great game this as entertaining to the blog as a neutral with a fair few hoppers in attendance I guess this was a very good advert for the West Yorkshire League.  Also of note here were the 3 officials headed up by Arran Williams who had good games in what was a testing fixture.
Thoroughly enjoyable afternoon saw us get a quick connection back to Wakefield and we were soon back at base around 7.15pm.

WHICH WAY TO THE SNACK BAR?