Third placed Tadcaster opened the scoring at Bradley thanks to Callum Ward’s twenty-sixth minute penalty. However the visitors were overwhelmed by an Owls fightback in the second half that was sparked by Louis Grant’s sixty-ninth minute equalizer.

Brody Robertson then put his side ahead after combining with fellow substitute Marc Cooper, before Grant scored his second to all but seal the points.

The Owls wasted no time in taking the fight to the team that they had put four past on Thursday and almost took the lead through Jonathan Oglesby who had been played in by Darren Hanslip, but unfortunately the winger could only find the left hand side netting.

In truth however, the first half was a relatively scrappy affair so it was appropriate that the first goal came from a foul; after the Cleethorpes defence had struggled to deal with a loose ball in the box. Striker Danny Gray was brought down in the area and his forward partner Ward converted the penalty, rifling a powerful effort beyond the Owls goalkeeper.

The hosts’ captain Hanslip almost drew his team level minutes before the break as he latched onto a Grants flick-on but his laced effort wasn’t enough to see his side go level before the interval.

In the sixty-fourth Cleethorpes finally did create the opening that they had been looking for and it fell to Grant who took his chance expertly, swivelling and planting a half volley into the roof of the net.

Manager Marcus Newell had brought strikers Cooper and Robertson into the fold in the second half and his decision clearly paid dividends as both combined to put his side in front. Cooper had originally been denied after he had met full back Laurence McKay’s in-swinging cross with a side footed volley; but the forward was the first to react to the goalkeeper’s parry squaring the ball to Robertson who provided the finish from close range.

Cleethorpes were now in the ascendancy and energetic pressing from Oglesby almost led to a quick-fire third after he won the ball from an opposing defender before attempting to pick out a striker in the box, whipping a cross that was agonisingly close to finding its target.
The Owls did find a third goal when Cooper provided his second assist of the game, as he picked the ball up on the right side of the box before drilling a cross that was turned in by the former Grimsby Borough predator Louis Grant.

Even in the later stages of the game Tadcaster showed the sort of resilience that you would expect from a team in the higher reaches of the league and they pegged the Owls back to 3-2 with moments remaining thanks to a diving header from former Leeds United man Andy Milne.

Despite Tadcaster’s late rally Cleethorpes managed to hold out and will now look to build on the win when they face Shaw Lane Aquaforce away from home in the penultimate game of their league season.