The Ambers finally got their season going with a hard fought victory over Garforth Town who, like The Ambers, had yet to taste victory in their opening games. Matches against The Miners are usually close affairs, and this one was no different, and could have had a bad outcome for The Ambers had Garforth taken advantage of their first half superiority.
It was a night of returning heroes and new faces for the hosts as the starting line up included a familiar face in talismanic striker Kieran Wells who re-joined the club at the weekend alongside new signing Harry Wood, whilst another returning hot shot Aaron Moxam had to make do with a place on the bench.
The game started with a couple of half chances, Hussain shooting wildly over after some good footwork by Ejupi set him up, before Mitch Dunne latched onto a misdirected Garforth header but he dragged his shot wide of the target.
There was a very early blow for the visitors when they lost ex-Amber Denton to an injury after just seven minutes, and a similar setback for The Ambers just eight minutes later when skipper Ozzy Radford also had to depart the scene after taking a knock, Owen Haigh taking his place at the heart of the defence.
Despite the absence of Burgess and the departed Marshall up top, Town still had the talents of Barker to fall back on, and the midfielder was, as per the norm, at the heart of most things as the visitors started to take control of the game. Dylan Parkin had to be quick off his line to prevent substitute Witter taking advantage of a left sided break, before some good interplay down the right between Hussain and Ejupi saw the full back’s fierce effort being turned around the post for a corner by Parkin.
Hussain then saw a header grasped by the keeper before Barkway headed a difficult chance wide from a corner and The Ambers were having to defend deeply as Garforth turned the screw. Hussain who was giving Craig Nelthorpe a torrid time then combined well with Witter and when the cross came in to the near post, Parkin managed to cut it out with Barker lurking with intent but being adjudged to have kicked the ball out of the keepers hands whilst they were challenging.
A rare Ambers break almost caught out the visitors as Haigh sent Dunne away down the left wing and the ball was played into Alfie Dodsworth whose clean strike was parried away by Town keeper Wells, and this was the start of a better period of play for the home side. Dunne shot straight at Wells before a dangerous free kick by Dodsworth was well defended by Viggars at the expense of a corner.
As half time approached, Winn was played through and finished neatly past Parkin but Town’s delight was short lived as the flag had gone up for what looked like the tightest of offside decisions. On such moments, games can be won or lost and that seemed to be the case, as the half time talk around the ground was that The Ambers were fortunate to still be level at the break, albeit they had defended well, and were in for a tough test in the second period.
However, whatever was said in the sanctity of the home dressing room certainly struck a chord, as the second half was just two minutes old when a thumping strike by Dodsworth beat Wells all ends up and flew into the top corner of the net to wake everyone from their half time slumber.
Just three minutes later, The Ambers were in dreamland when Wells marked his return by pouncing on a Garforth error, knocking the ball past his namesake and rolling the ball home much to the delight of the home supporters.
With their tails up, The Ambers went in search of a third goal to ensure there was to be no repeat of last season’s game when they had thrown away a 2-0 lead to lose by three late goals, and after a goalmouth scramble, Masai Arbouin’s effort from the edge of the area was just off target.
After an hour of hard graft, Wells took the acclaim of the fans as he left the pitch to be replaced by Brandon Bagley, but there was no let up in attacking intent by Handsworth. Nelthorpe’s cross from the left picked out an unmarked Tom Cropper but his header was straight at the keeper, before an excellent run and shot by the impressive Wood was just too high. That was the midfielder’s last action before he was replaced by another debutant, Tom Bishop, whilst Dunne left the action shortly after, with Moxam taking his place for the last twenty minutes.
Garforth were still trying to find a way back into the game and Antcliff forced a good near post save from Parkin before substitute De Silva tried a couple of efforts, one going narrowly wide before the other ended up over the fence after some neat footwork had created the space for the shot.
As the game moved into its closing stages, the visitors almost got one back when a Davies free kick from just outside the box forced Parkin to leap across to his left to save well, but the ball fell kindly to Raw who seemed certain to score until the keeper recovered quickly enough to make an even better stop. The fantastic double save topped off a fine performance by the Ambers number 1 and the clean sheet was well deserved. Special mention also to the young pairing at centre back, Henry Carne and Owen Haigh and to Sam Fewkes who kept danger man Barker quiet throughout the second period, thus negating the visitor’s biggest threat.
So, it’s a first win for the new management team and The Ambers will now aim to build on it, starting with a trip to face Eccleshill United at the weekend.