By John Baron
Phoenix club FC Farsley fell to a 3-2 defeat to South Leeds in their first-ever competitive game last night.
The game took place against the backdrop of soaring 30 degree temperatures, a rock-hard pitch which hadn’t seen rain for months and a solar eclipse which temporarily cast its shadow over the game.
The visitors, in their first game in the Yorkshire Amateur League Supreme Division since reforming, took the lead against the run of play in the 37th minute, Greaves firing in an unstoppable effort from outside the area.
South Leeds, who had earlier hit the post, quickly turned the match around thanks to two rapid-fire penalties from Tyler Bussue.
The first followed a poor challenge from a Farsley defender, the second came in more dubious circumstances as the South Leeds attacker – who looked offside – was adjudged to have been brought down by Farsley’s debutant keeper Fletcher.
Farsley pulled it back to 2-2 on the stroke of half time when a speculative shot from defender Ayeni somehow found its way past South Leeds keeper. It was all square at half time, with the highly committed home side looking slightly the better team.
The second half continued to be played in blazing heat and a difficult Millshaw pitch devoid of green grass, affecting the quality of football for both sides.
South Leeds rattled the crossbar, before notching what turned out to be the winning goal through Carlton Binks, as he headed in from a corner.
Farsley – cheered on by a sizeable away support who made the short journey along the Ring Road from LS28 to LS11 – finally managed to put together some pressure in the last ten minutes. They created a handful of chances without really troubling the South Leeds keeper.
South Leeds’ fans celebrated as if they’d won the league on the final whistle. FC Farsley will be a cup final for many sides this season, and it’s something the Throstle Nest side will have to get used to. They will also hope the odd decisions from the officials last night even themselves out over the course of the season.
After the game, boss David Stockdale told club media his side had performed “OK”.
“We showed at Altofts [in a 5-2 pre-season win] what we could do. We dropped a bit below that standard today but you can see the pitch is a bit of a leveller so you have to play a different type of game, which we did at times. If you look at the chances we had in the first and second half we could have had far more than two goals.
“They had two penalties and a corner and I don’t think they had much else after that. Well done to them. They played the game well and they seemed to enjoy that they beat us, so fair play to them.”
He said FC Farsley continued to make progress.”Everyone’s disappointed they got beat. The lads know what they need to do.
“I’m disappointed for the fans, who came out in force tonight, they’ve missed football for a year or so. It’s fuel on the fire for Saturday.”
Stockdale encouraged fans and the wider community to come along to the first home game at Throstle Nest on Saturday, for a 2pm kick off against Collegians.
“We are talking after a defeat,” he added. “If we’d been talking after a win I’d have been waxing lyrical about the team – and I still am. I think they can still do good things and it’s a long old season, especially in this league, so it is what it is.
“I said to them you don’t get too low, and you don’t get too high. We’ll keep a level head and look for three points on Saturday.”
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