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Match report: Horbury v Old Headingley
A battling Old Headingley performance was rewarded with a point against Horbury
Horbury 1
Old Headingley AFC 1
A stout defensive effort and a never-say-die attitude were the cornerstones of an Old Headingley performance which manager Richard Hamilton justly declared himself proud of after this encounter with Horbury.
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Playing with ten men for the vast majority of the contest, Headingley's rearguard action seemed to be in vain when they finally conceded with twenty five minutes to go, but some fresh legs off the substitutes' bench and an unwillingness to throw in the towel brought about a richly deserved equaliser from Gavin Johnstone in the eightieth minute and earned a precious point for the visitors.
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Spared the lottery of playing on Horbury's sloping pitch by virtue of an end of season ground swap, both teams began the game attempting to come to terms with a gusting wind blowing from one goal mouth to the other. With the breeze in their favour in the opening period, the visitors created good early chances for their strike partnership of Oli Seed and Lenny Miller.
The former was denied when a thumping header from a Mike McVay corner was cleared off the line and then saw a left footed drive stopped at point blank range by an impressive Horbury goalkeeper, whilst Miller also went close with a left footed attempt as the home defence appeared to be at sixes and sevens.
The game swung in Horbury's favour in the twenty fifth minute when, in shepherding the ball out for a Headingley goal kick, midfielder Adey Shields was cynically fouled by two home players. Reacting to their obvious attempt to provoke a response, Shields raised his hands to one of his assailants and was promptly dismissed by the referee, leaving the visitors needing to reshuffle their lineup and redouble their efforts.
A combination of solid goalkeeping from Leigh Fearn and heroic defending from centre halves Andy Williams and Mark Davies saw Old Headingley through to half time and well into the second half with the scoreline still blank.
Now with the wind in their favour, Horbury's attacks were often ending with long balls going out of play, but with time beginning to run out, a low shot from just outside the penalty area beat Fearn inside his near post and left Headingley looked doomed to yet another reversal.
Manager Hamilton responded by sending on the fresh legs of Chris Street and Kieran Burns in attack and immediately Headingley's first half impetus was restored.
Only a couple of high quality interventions from the home goalkeeper prevented Headingley creating clear cut chances in the closing quarter of an hour, but eventually a fortunate break of the ball and a simple pass laid on a chance to Gavin Johnstone and his composed finish was swept past the keeper's right hand with the minimum of fuss to earn a deserved point.
In the last minutes Headingley's marking let them down at a set piece but the subsequent free header was wasted, and with Fearn claiming all other balls into his area with consummate authority, the final whistle brought a small level of celebration amongst the visiting side as they congratulated themselves on a performance that displayed no small measure of iron.
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Weather for Leeds
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: 0 C to 1 C
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Light snow
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