West Riding County Cup final joy awaits Farsley Celtic

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Farsley Celtic progressed to the West Riding County Cup final as they continued their defence of the trophy, defeating Pontefract Collieries, writes Thomas Ritchie.

Goals from Nathan Cartman and Don Cockerline, either side of an Eli Hey strike, were enough for the victory, with Farsley now without a loss in the competition in over two years, the last defeat coming in November 2015.

The Celts came racing out of the blocks and took the lead through Nathan Cartman, scoring his 10th of the season for Farsley. Nathan Turner found Ben Atkinson in the box, who helped the ball on to Cartman to tap home from close range.

Cartman then came close to doubling Farsley’s leader, however his header from Lewis Turner’s cross was saved by Ryan Musselwhite.

The hosts troubled the Farsley defence for the first time through Eli Hey, the forward breaking in behind before shooting wide.

Pontefract did pull level midway through the first-half courtesy of a neat turn and finish in the box from Hey, scoring his 28th goal of the season.

Farsley pressed for the go-ahead goal, with Lewis Turner shooting just wide from 25-yards out, before Luke Parkin had an effort deflected just wide.

However, the pressure told two minutes before half-time, Musselwhite doing well to save Nathan Cartman’s initial strike, before Dan Cockerline found the back of the net with a stooping header inside the six-yard box.

The Celts had a brace of excellent chances to doubled their advantage in the early stages of the second-half. Isaac Baldwin made a great run before his strike whistled just over the crossbar, and Luke Parkin shot wide from the edge of the box.

Pontefract had their best chance to draw level 25 minutes from time, Kane Reece getting a shot off from close range only to be denied by a flying save from Graeme McKibbin.

Kane Reece had another chance as he fired over when well placed, before the visitors should have wrapped up the three points when Luke Parkin played in Cockerline, but instead of squaring to Danny Ellis he went alone and saw his effort cleared off the line.

Despite a valiant effort from Pontefract, Farsley saw out the remaining minutes to progress to the final, and will await the winner of Tadcaster Albion vs Selby Town next week.

Pontefract Collieries: Musselwhite, Greenhough, Whitehouse (Dunn 71), Seed (Ramsey 54), Brown, Clarke, Darley (Jeffs 61), Cromack, Hey, Redford, Reece. Unused subs: Williams.

Farsley Celtic: McKibbin, L. Turner, Baldwin, C. Atkinson, Harris, Clayton ©, B. Atkinson, N. Turner, Cockerline, Cartman (Ellis 71), Parkin. Unused subs: Bett, Walker.

MOTM: Ben Atkinson

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