HONOURS ended even as Yorkshire Premier leaders Huddersfield entertained second-placed York at Lockwood Park and finished up with a 2-2 draw.
York had to win the match to keep up their challenge to Huddersfield, so it was no surprise the contest turned into one of the toughest games of the season.
The visitors, who went down 5-3 at home earlier in the season, got stuck into Huddersfield right from the off and took the lead when a forward fired home after finding himself unchallenged.
To make matters worse for the Lockwood Park men, leading scorer Jimmy Swinden left the field with a recurrence of a hamstring injury and then found themselves 2-0 down after a flowing York move cut open the defence.
York’s defence was particularly hard to break down, although Kelly and Andy Kaye battled hard to assert some level of control for Huddersfield in midfield, and finally they found an opening, when Steve Durrans found himself unmarked at the edge of the York area, and smashed home.
Huddersfield then had their best spell, but were unable to find an equaliser before half-time, although they did improve in the second half and York were held at bay by man-of-the-match Beatson.
Swinden limped back on to try and boost the cutting edge, and although he struggled to make runs, he did draw the game level, when, in a moment of brilliance, he flicked a powerful shot into the top corner.
He would have won the game shortly after, but was adjudged to have used his body to put the ball over the line after a Courtney shot.
Team: Howarth, Peachey, Swinden (M), Hannam, Beatson, Kelly, Gregory, Swinden (J), Hirst, Courtney, Durrans, Kaye.
Huddersfield III 3
Normanby Park 1
HUDDERSFIELD carried on from last week’s biggest win by following up with their best win of the season.
Beaumont and Connell both went close for Huddersfield.
However, it was Normanby who opened the scoring when their centre half fired in superbly from the edge of the D.
Huddersfield kept their heads and applied pressure and after several short corners, Jonny Beaumont swept in from Brett Kullar’s pass.
In the second half they began to take complete control and when Gary Waterhouse found Sean Connell free on the 25, he drove into the D, turned and fired into the net.
Kullar was working particularly hard, covering a lot of the pitch, and 10 minutes from the end, the game was finally settled when Chris Abbey finished well into the bottom corner.
Team: Durrant, Mills, Taylor, Waterhouse (S), Waterhouse (G), Kullar, Abbey, Swindells, Maddeford, Connell, Moscrop, Beaumont.
