By John Baron
Farsley Celtic ran out 2-0 winners over Yorkshire rivals Scarborough Athletic in an incident-packed game at The Citadel.
First half goals from Ben Atkinson and Clayton Donaldson saw the home pull off a league ‘double’ against the East Coast side, while The Celts defended stoutly and saw keeper Zan Luk Leban pull off several excellent stops.
Leban pulled off a terrific diving save to keep the game goalless after just nine minutes. A minute later and Tom Allan’s header was tipped around the post by the Scarborough keeper as both sides traded early blows.
The Celts were awarded a penalty on the half-hour mark after a foul in the penalty area. Top sorer Ben Atkinson sent the Scarborough keeper the wrong way to notch his eighth goal of the season and give the home side the lead.
Six minutes later Harry Green’s free kick rattled the crossbar for Scarborough as the away side pressed in what was becoming a full-blooded Yorkshire derby.
Farsley extended their lead on 40 minutes when Clayton Donaldson notched his first goal at The Citadel – and it was a cracker! A loose ball fell to the gaffer at the left edge of the box and he volleyed it first time the bottom right corner.
Farsley went into the break 2-0 up.
The second half saw Scarborough on top for periods, but failing to break through some resolute Farsley defending and Leban in the Farsley goal.
Leban denied Rutledge when one on one, before the lively Donaldson almost made it 3-0 when his spectacular volley effort was well saved. On 67 minutes Donaldson went close from range again for the Celts when his shot was spectacularly tipped around the post.
The visitors came close to pulling one back when they hit the post in the 77th minute, and three minutes later Leban pulled off a world-class save to spectacularly tip Rutledge’s drive onto the bar.
The Celts held out to secure an important three points which moves them to 14th in the league and completes the double over their Yorkshire rivals.
On Tuesday The Celts travel to Peterborough Sports in their next National League North fixture.
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