Pontefract Collieries 0:1 Barton Town Old Boys
NCEL First Division
Saturday 5th March 2011

Pontefract’s fading promotion hopes were dealt a severe blow when Barton Town’s master marksman Gareth Barlow condemned the hosts to defeat in Saturday’s match at The White Rose Stadium with his last minute strike.

It is the second league game in succession that the Colls have lost in the dying minutes, having previously surrendered to Glasshoughton in the closing stages of the derby. This one hurt the Ponte side just as much, coming against one of their main promotion rivals and seeing the side lose further ground in the championship race. The Colls now lie in 6^th place, having led the division at the turn of the year. More worryingly, they are now glancing behind themselves at teams with games in hand and momentum on their side, rather than looking above them with any confidence in their prospects of overtaking four of the five teams they would need to overhaul to claim one of the two promotion places.

Pontefract started in the ascendancy, with Ryan Poskitt and Duncan Bray linking well on the right-hand side, winning a first-minute corner that led to a penalty claim when Luke Forgione was flattened by the Barton ‘keeper Dave Bramley. The referee waved Ponte’s claims away and, although the home side won a series of corners, they could not push home their advantage.

Barton Town struck back, enjoying the bulk of possession and territorial advantage once the early exchanges had subsided. However, Pontefract were looking solid in defence, with new signing Lee Stratford settling in alongside the impressive Luke Forgione, and Man of the Match Andy Broadbent providing an impenetrable shield alongside Paul Haigh. With Barlow and Chris Garth playing well up front for the visitors, it was an intriguing contest. Barlow’s ball behind Dean Twibey unlocked the Pontefract defence, but Twibey recovered well to deny Mark Griffin the chance to open the scoring.

As the first half neared its central point,  Barton pressed forward and enjoyed a period of sustained pressure. Andy Jackson fed Griffin, who raced through on goal, only to be denied by Sam Dobbs. However, in the ensuing tangle, Griffin landed on the Ponte ‘keeper, and a classic case of “handbags” ensued before referee Steven Holroyd intervened to calm things down.

When Town’s Tom Matthews lofted a high cross into the Pontefract area, the centre-halves failed to deal with the threat, and cleared only as far as Jackson, who sent a firm volley wide of Dobbs’ goal.

Ryan Poskitt and Danny Frost started to combine well for the Colls. Three times Frost turned the ball inside to release Poskitt down his right flank. The first saw the winger’s attempted cross cut out. The second saw Poskitt feeding Bray, whose turn was good but his shot was weak. The third resulted in a fine deep cross from Ponte’s right winger, which was met firmly by the forehead of Jason Bentley. However, Bramley was equal to it, and Ponte’s best move had come up fruitless. The first half ended goal-less, with both teams having played some good football in a competitive spirit.

After the interval, Barton started the stronger, and Pontefract were twice indebted to Luke Forgione for some fine defending as the last man. Pontefract responded to Barton’s dominance, with Bray just losing the race to latch onto a delightful dink over the defence by Broadbent.

Barton were denied a penalty claim on the hour, although Dave Gordon’s acting skills were as poor as Danny Frost’s had been in the first half: the two should see if they can get a Buy One, Get One Free deal on “simulation” lessons (that’s diving, to you and me!) Pontefract broke free, with Bray sending a cross-field ball into the path of Bentley, who shot wide.

The home side thought they had scored in the 65^th minute. Poskitt’s cross hit the far post and rebounded across the face of the goal, from where it was struck home by Frost. Although the Barton keeper was way behind the goal-line, the referee deemed that he had prevented the ball from crossing the line from Frost’s close-range effort, and the visitors breathed again.

Carl Fothergill – on as a substitute for Bray – also thought he had scored when he slid a Poskitt through-ball beyond Bramley, only to see his effort trickle inches wide of the upright.

When Jackson sent a ball over the Colls defence for Steve Young, the Barton sub was superbly denied by Dobbs, and the game seemed to be heading for a second stalemate of the season between the two sides. However, the game was to have a sting in the tail. Barton forced a series of corners and, having looked threatening from set-pieces all afternoon, finally made one count, with Barlow pouncing at close range to take the spoils.

As the Pontefract players left the pitch having been defeated by a promotion rival in the dying seconds of a match for the second successive league game, the players seemed to sense that their promotion hopes had suffered a second body blow from which they may not recover. With only two wins from their last nine league games, the Colls need to trade in their recent form for that of the early months of the season if they are to better last season’s fifth place finish and have any hope of claiming a berth in the Premier Division for the 2011-12. Wednesday’s tricky fixture at Shirebrook and Saturday’s trip to Louth offer opportunities for the team to restore their season and re-build some momentum.

Pontefract Collieries:

Sam Dobbs, Dean Twibey, Luke Smith (captain), Luke Forgione, Lee Stratford, Andy Broadbent, Ryan Poskitt, Paul Haigh, Duncan Bray (repl. Carl Fothergill, 65), Danny Frost (repl. Lee Garside, 69), Jason Bentley

Subs not used: Josh Wright, Nicky Handley, Stefan Furness

Bookings: none