N C East Prem Div                                   Sat 26 December 2005

GLASSHOUGHTON WELFARE                    2   HARROGATE RAILWAY ATHLETIC                      3                                              

DESPITE THE ABSENCE OF KEY PLAYERS WELFARE POSSIBLY DESERVED A SHARE OF THE POINTS FROM THIS TYPICALLY HARD FOUGHT BOXING DAY ENCOUNTER.

When after only five minutes of play Graham Marchant latched on to a sliced clearance by Adam Sadlar to round debutant keeper Ian Philliskirk and put the visitors ahead, the spectre of the recent thrashing Welfare received at the hands of Rail loomed large, but was answered in the very best fashion when Welfare replied within minutes, Andy Seed picking out Danny King who beat opposite keeper Lee Ashforth to level matters.

Both teams went on from here to produce a physical pulsating encounter with very little quarter being given.

and during a period in which Welfare were clearly on top as a result of the pace and skill of Andy Seed causing the visitors problems, both Ryan Harwood and Lee Parker were foiled by Ashforth.  Seed also found himself in the clear but raked his shot across goal much to the relief of a flat footed visiting defence and the interval came with nothing separating the teams.

From the restart it was the visitors who seemingly forced the pace and despite the home men contesting every ball Marchant picked up a through ball to shrug off attempted tackles and drive Rail back in to the lead on 55 minutes.  Before Welfare had time to regroup Marchant had struck again, planting a 30 yards opportunitist effort in to the top corner to put the visitors in to what appeared to be an unassailable position.  To their credit Welfare picked up a gear and took the game to the visitors and when Lee Parker headed home a Mark Newton free kick the game went in to the last quarter with no hold barred but despite a valiant effort during which Ashforth saved a goal bound effort from the busy King, Welfare were unfortunate not to level matters and take what would have been a deserved share of the spoils