By Josh Makin
Farsley Celtic slipped to a 2-0 defeat against high-flying Scunthorpe United at The Citadel in a chaotic affair which saw three red cards and a record league crowd of 2,333.
Goals in either half from Will Evans and Fin Shrimpton were enough to secure the three points for the league leaders, against a Farsley side which showed plenty of spirit and were unlucky to have conceded a clean sheet.
It was the visitors who started the strongest out of the two sides, with Scunthorpe going close numerous times through Whitehall, before they took the lead through Evans after an almighty goalmouth scramble which saw a number of claret shirts swipe at the ball before the defender lashed home.
Farsley had chances of their own however, going close through Dylan Youmbi whose across the goal strike was almost tapped in by Michael Coulson.
The game was then thrown into chaos with ten minutes left to play in the half, after an off-the-ball altercation between Isaac Assenso and Whitehall led to both players been shown a straight red card.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first, with Scunthorpe looking the more dangerous side and they almost doubled their lead two minutes into the half when Alfie Beeston dragged a shot wide of the far post.
The Celts responded and came close to equalizing moments later through Coulson whose first-time effort forced a strong diving save from Fitzsimons to palm it around the post.
Clayton Donaldson’s men continued to ramp up the pressure on the Iron as the half continued, and not many went closer than Coulson who after receiving the ball in the box from Tom Allan, cut inside and fired an effort towards the top right corner which flew agonisingly wide.
Zan-Luk Leban didn’t have many saves to make during the match, however he had to be on top form to deny Scunthorpe’s Michael Clunan after a thunderous strike from outside the box looked destined for the bottom corner before the Slovenian’s intervention.
The uphill task for Farsley was then made worse when Chris Atkinson was shown a second yellow card on his 300th appearance for the club for an apparent foul on former Celts man Kian Scales meaning Farsley finished with nine men.
The Iron then made their advantage count as Finley Shrimpton arrived late into the box to finish past Leban to seal the three points for Scunthorpe and condemn the Celts to defeat.
The Celts are on the road next week, as we make the short trip over to Greater Manchester to face Curzon Ashton at the Tameside Stadium, where Farsley will be looking to do the double over the Nash.