Battling Trojans make their point against champions

Burley had never even taken as much as a point from this side, who had already handed out two thrashings to the Trojans earlier this term.

Having shipped 12 goals in their last two outings, confidence would have been expected to be at a low for the homeside, and manager Richard Wood shuffled his pack once more, handing recalls to Chris Lloyd, Nick Beanland and Richard Scott in goal.

On another blustery, showery day, the first half was an evenly fought affair as play swung from end to end, with both teams showing commendable skill in the difficult conditions.

Burley came close to opening the scoring inside ten minutes, when Stuart George swung over a delightful right wing cross, which Wood nodded down to Beanland, whose left footed shot from ten yards crashed against the crossbar, down on to the line and back out again.

Five minutes later George again overlapped down the right wing and crossed for Beanland, but his header was easily claimed by the keeper.

With 35 minutes on the clock, it was the away side who seemed to be on the verge of the breakthrough, when centre half Stuart Dibb was harshly judged to have tripped a Sherwood forward just inside the area and the referee pointed to the spot.

Keeper Scott, having endured a nightmareish debut three weeks ago, went a long way to erasing those memories with a wonderful penalty save, diving low to his left to turn the ball to safety.

The second half opened with both teams seeking the opening that would put them ahead.

Trojans midfield of Lloyd, Phil Metcalfe, Jonathan Keith and Lee McGowan - who had replaced the hamstrung Tom McDermott - fought manfully to win possession and, unlike so many recent outings, they seemed better able to string passes together.

On the hour mark McGowan released Beanland in the inside left channel, with the striker holding the ball before slipping the ball back inside to the young midfielder, but his shot from just outside the area whistled over the bar.

Ten minutes later and Trojans finally made the breakthrough - Craig Renton exchanged passes with McGowan before advancing and clipping a clever ball over the the Sherwood defence for Wood to knock the ball down, allowing Lloyd to celebrate his return to the team by forcing the ball past the keeper from ten yards out.

With 80 minutes on the clock the away side were beginning to dominate possession as they desperately sought the equaliser.

Trojans were defending manfully though, with Dibb, George, Renton and Matthew Steer all excellent and when Lloyd cleared the ball to the right wing, Beanland did well to keep the ball in, before advancing down the flank and squaring the ball to Kristian Mazurke.

Only on as a sub five minutes earlier, Mazurke kept his cool to take the ball and drilling a left footed shot low to the keeper's right to put Burley 2-0 up with the clock running down.

With five minutes remaining, the Trojans failed to clear a corner, allowing Sherwood to claim a goal back, which led to a hectic closing period as the away side threw everything forward.

With the clock showing 90 minutes, it looked as if Burley had hung on, but it was not to be, as they coughed up possession cheaply and Sherwood found a gap in a shattered home defence to score their second and claim a point.

While hugely disappointed not to hold on to their lead, Burley can take encouragement from a vastly improved display against one of the best sides in the league.

The match point was shared between keeper Richard Scott, who made a number of crucial saves, and the evergreen Craig Renton, who defended excellently, whilst also providing a constant attacking threat. This Saturday they play Thirsk Falcons away.

Harold Styans 2 Addingham 6

Addingham maintained their record as Division One's only unbeaten side with this excellent away win.

The normally superb pitches at Killinghall moor were showing the signs of wear after the recent heavy rain, and the surface was poor. With the heavy winds blowing too, this was to be a day where a result had to be ground out.

The first ten minutes were all Styans, as Addingham failed to get to grips with the conditions, the poor surface and heavy winds making it difficult for the visitors to find any cohesion, having done so they struck twice in five minutes.

Dave Dixon showing his prowess as a winger with a pin point cross, that found Benny Noble at the far post. The striker still had work to do but he nodded home with a pinpoint header back across the keeper.

Three minutes later Si Collins doubled the trouble with a close range effort.

Shaken by this, Styans rallied, and aided by the wind they carried the game to Addingham, a cool finish halved the deficit and then Watson was on hand five minutes later to tap home after some sloppy defending.

This restored parity and put Styans seemingly in the box seat. With the last kick of the half Steve Perkins got the first of his brace with a tidy strike from 12 yards after some neat interplay between Tunney, Rennolds and Ian Stewart this restored Addingham's advantage, albeit somewhat undeservedly.

The second half was a different story completely. Without the wind behind them, Styans failed to find anything that resembled an offensive play, they failed to trouble keeper Sam Lee once in 45 minutes and struggled to deal with Addingham's movement. At time they were left looking helpless as the visitors controlled the game.

No matter how poor the Styans display, there was nothing any team, or keeper, could have done against Perkins' second goal.

You would be hard pressed to see a better strike anywhere this season: Perkins controlled the ball and flicked it up in one exquisite manouevre and then, from 30 yards, hit a stunning volley that even the opposition players stood and applauded.

With a 4-2 advantage Addingham looked to change the personnel, young Dave Stansfield came on for his first team debut after some impressive displays for the reserves. He replaced Tim Marriot, who leaves for six weeks to travel to India. Tom Jonathon Ross-Jones replaced Tunney, and Phil Bolton made his senior debut.

Whilst Stansfield's was an understated debut, Ross Jones and Bolton marked their appearances with goals of the highest order, the latter a towering header from a Si Collins cross, this after Ross Jones had made it 5-2 with a clever flicked shot into the top corner.

The first half had promised a level contest but this in hindsight was due to the conditions; after the break without the wind to play against, Addingham were always in control and fully deserved the high scoreline they ultimately achieved.