Sat 19 Feb   N C East Prem Div 

HARROGATE RAILWAY ATHLETIC    3              GLASSHOUGHTON WELFARE                  1                                     

APART FROM A BRIGHT OPENING SPELL WELFARE WERE UNABLE TO SUSTAIN THE TENACITY AND DETERMINATION OF THEIR PREVIOUS OUTING AT PICKERING AND WERE COMFORTABLY BEATEN BY HIGH RIDING ATHLETIC.

Despite being without Richard Dobson, Carl Fox and Paul Arkle the visitors began on a promising note, forging out a number of opportunities before Rail came in to the picture.  Andy Seed had a goal bound attempt blocked, before releasing James Russell to force a corner from home keeper Lee Ashforth.  Russell again got clear but his attempted deft chip was comfortably taken by Ashforth.

Rail gradually clawed their way in to contention but a defensive error again let in Seed but on a terribly uneven surface, probably the worst encountered this season, the final shot went wide without troubling the custodian. Rail then showed their teeth with Lyle Hillier putting a half chance over but when Welfare failed to clear from a free kick situation the striker made amends by forcing home to give Rail a 35^th minute lead with a scrappy goal.  Welfare stayed in contention but close on half time were unfairly penalised when the match official dictated that Rail retake a free kick which they had initially fluffed and which resulted in a corner kick from which central defender Shaun Constable inexplicably handled to allow Jamie Featherstone to convert the spot kick to take the home men in at the interval with an unbelievable two goal cushion.

Welfare never really picked up from these set backs and despite the biting challenges of man of the match Darren Leech, Rail bossed the larger part of the second period and it was no surprise when they put the game beyond Welfare in the 80^th minute, Daniel Spencer’s cross finding Featherstone total unmarked and with sufficient time to have two attempts before rifling in to the roof of the net from close range.  Welfare’s only consolation was a perfectly struck left footed free kick by Martin Woolford which bent in to the top corner to leave Ashforth flat footed, and give the score line some respectability, but it was a case of too little too late.

Team: Tom Morgan, Garth Liversedge, Mark Newton, Shaun Constable (Matthew Muscroft), Paul Mattison, Jamie Thomson, Andy Seed, James Russell (Chris Newton), Lee Parker, Darren Leech, Martin Woolford, Ashley Fieldhouse.