‘Naive’ defending cost us dearly, admits Farsley Celtic boss Adam Lakeland

After a scrappy start, the visitors were awarded a penalty midway through the first half as Will Hayhurst was adjudged to have handled in the box, with Jordan Thewlis converting.

But within three minutes Farsley had struck back through Jimmy Spencer, the forward finding space in the box and superbly heading home Will Hayhurst’s cross.

The Pilgrims then retook the lead against the run of play in the second half, Thewlis flicking the ball on for Dominic Knowles who kept his cool to slot home.

Celtic once again drew level straight away as Adam Clayton was felled in the box by Crook, with Hayhurst firing home the equaliser from the spot.

What appeared to be a decisive moment came just minutes later, as Boston’s Martyn Woolford received his marching orders after lashing out off the ball.

However, Farsley were unable to take advantage of the extra man and it was Boston who went in front when substitute Jay Rollins was fouled by Tom Allan in the box.

The referee pointed to the spot, and Thewlis converted his second penalty of the afternoon.

Adam Clayton collided with the advertising hoardings with around five minutes remaining leaving Celtic with just 10 men, before the man advantage was reinstated when Boston’s Demeaco Duhaney received a second booking for kicking the ball away.

The Pilgrims wrapped up the three points in the third minute of added time as they caught Farsley short at the back, with Brad Abbott slotting home when one-on-one with Kyle Trenerry.

“It’s nowhere near good enough defending,” said Farsley boss Adam Lakeland after the game. “Letting them get in with ease, because I’ve actually felt we’ve played really well there over 90 minutes, and in the second half we were certainly the better team.

“When it went to 2-2, you felt like we were the team in the ascendancy and that we’d go on and win it.

“They’ve obviously made a change and brought (Jay) Rollins on, with a bit of extra pace up top.

“If you concede four goals you don’t deserve to get anything out of a game of football, we’ve been a bit naïve there.

“We’ve lost the game because our defending wasn’t good enough in the secondhalf, but the referee’s performance was embarrassing, and I feel sorry the assessor!”

Elsewhere, Josh March hit a hat-trick as Bradford Park Avenue went down 3-0 at home to Leamington.

The hosts had Liam Hughes sent off on nine minutes after bringing down March for the penalty that saw him score his second goal.

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HARROGATE Town had to settle for a 3-3 draw at National League high-fliers Bromley on yesterday – despite leading 3-0 at one stage.

Simon Weaver’s side had raced ahead thanks to goals from Jack Emmett, Brendan Kiernan and a Jack Muldoon penalty, though Chris Bush struck before the half-time whistle to give his side hope.

Reeco Hackett-Fairchild reduced the deficit to one three minutes after the restart, before Bush popped up again, firing a low drive through the bodies and in on 73 minutes.

Both sides searched for a winner in the remaining half an hour, though Bromley found James Belshaw in inspired form, the Harrogate stopper making a string of excellent saves to ensure his side left with a point.

The result means Town remain in the final play-off spot on 33 points in seventh place.

Elsewhere, 10-man FC Halifax Town secured a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Woking.

Nathan Clarke was shown a straight red card just after the hour mark of a game that never really caught fire.

After that, Town dug deep, worked hard and just about held on.

Town started positively, passing with confidence and pressing with aggression, not letting Woking settle.

Woking nearly scored in a madcap minute or so when their corner appeared to hit the post, before Sam Johnson dropped the follow-up cross under pressure, and then Josh Staunton’s header behind landed just the other side of the upright.

A potential game-changing moment occurred just after the hour-mark when Clarke was shown a straight red for a lunging tackle on Shaun Donnellan in which he won the ball but had his studs showing.

Ben Gerring then had the game’s first effort on target with 20 minutes to go when his header was comfortably saved by Johnson.

Woking’s best chance of the afternoon so far fell for Loza after a delightful flick into his path, but he snapped at the shot just inside the box and it was easily saved by Johnson.

Johnson made a superb save deep into added time from a Woking header, but Town held out.