Farsley Celtic 3, Blyth Spartans 0

Aug 26 2008 The Journal

Blue Square North

MANAGER Harry Dunn will step up his attempts to bring in new faces following his side’s defeat in Blue Square North at Farsley Celtic.

Dunn has been working for more than a week to sign a couple of players with Football League experience and remains hopeful the deals can be completed.

Yesterday, Spartans were a shadow of the side which won so comfortably on Saturday but, had they taken their chances, the outcome might have been different. Although the home team dominated the early exchanges, the best chances fell to Spartans with Andrew Wright forcing a good save from Farsley goalkeeper Curtis Aspden who was at full stretch, diving to his left.

Stephen Downs quickly indicated he would be a danger to the Blyth defence when he went past three defenders but sliced his shot over the crossbar from a good position.

Wright fired over at the other end before Farsley broke the deadlock in the 36th minute. A deep cross by Downs was met by James Walshaw, who gave Mark Bell no chance. The visitors, though, could have been on level terms as Robbie Dale’s goalbound shot was cleared from the line by Aspden with his feet.

Luck was clearly not with Blyth and when the energetic Downs opened up the defence with another good ball, Walshaw was again on target, striking the ball wide of Bell for his second goal.

James Knowles and Andy Campbell had further chances for Farsley but Blyth, too, created openings which they failed to exploit and it was all over for Dunn’s side just before the end, as Campbell beat Bell with consummate ease.

FARSLEY CELTIC: Aspden; Price, Stabb, Krief, Jackson, Santos, Downs, Knowles, Walshaw (Torpey), Campbell, James (Bambrook).

BLYTH SPARTANS: Bell, Leeson, Brown, Williams, Pell, Todd, Dalton (Poole), McCabe, Dale, Hume, Wright (Boyle).

Referee: Mr J Denton.

Attendance: 375.