Garforth faced Goole AFC under the lights at the Bannister Prentice stadium for their final home game of the 22/23 season. Goals from Sam Barker, Jamie Barkway and two from Charlie Marshall secured a deserved 3 points to push Town up to 4th place in the table.

Garforth went into Tuesday night’s fixture against with high spirits following the Miners 4-1 victory against Bottesford Town over the weekend, and Paul Marshall’s men excelled again with another dominant performance.

However, in the opening few minutes it was Goole who started the evening on the stronger foot. Callum Brown was forced into putting the ball out of play to prevent Henry Curtis going through on goal early doors, following a long ball from deep inside Goole’s half.

But Garforth quickly managed to wrestle control of game back from their opponents and looked to get on within the opening 10 minutes. Rinor Ejupi worked the ball into a decent area on the left side of the Goole area which allowed Charlie Marshall to fire an effort off, but only high and wide of the opposition goal.

Town won their first corner of the night in similar fashion as Marshall again got into an opportunistic area outside the box, although this time his ranged effort was blocked by Mitch Pattinson before it could trouble the goalkeeper.

Sam Barker was later played in behind Goole’s backline and took it past his approaching man to get a low drive off on target, which was met by a solid save from Mateuz Zaniewski.
With 12 minutes played Goole’s Gaell Nzayadio had a moment to forget as the defender mishit a simple clearance, which resulted in the ball going out for a Garforth corner.

Sam Barker swung in the set piece, which was met by Jamie Barkway who rose the highest out of a crowd of players on the edge of the 6-yard box to direct a powerful header beyond the reach of Zaniewski and into the back of the net, giving Town an early lead at home.

Goole were struggling to deal with Garforth’s set piece routines, and shortly after the opener a deep corner sent in by Dan Coupland eventually fell to Dexter Ball on the edge of the area, who narrowly missed the upper left corner with a first-time volley.

Town were unfortunate to not double their advantage once more on the 20 minute mark, as a square pass from Charlie Marshall down the left side across the area was nearly stabbed home by Sam Barker.

However, Town got what they deserved with 28 minutes played as Dexter Ball’s low strike from outside the area was initially saved well by the Goole goalkeeper, but he wasn’t quick enough to gather the spillage and Charlie Marshall was the first to pounce to guide the ball home in off the far post.

And with less than a minute played after the restart, Charlie Marshall grabbed himself a brace with one of the strikes of the season. The ball was looped into the winger’s run in behind the back line down the right flank, Marshall slowed his run, and allowed the ball to drop over his shoulder before firing a spectacular right footed half volley over the head of Zaniewski from what must have been at least 25 yards.

A whirlwind handful of minutes for Garforth had seemingly put the game out of reach, with Goole unable to reply and the Miners still hammering away attempts on the visitor's goal.
Goole recovered well to keep the ball out for a fourth time following a defensive error that led to a goal mouth scramble, seeing both Dan Coupland and Matt Ancliff have dangerous goal bound strikes blocked at point blank.

A pass was played into Marshall down the left wing, which he rightfully left as he was offside, but Goole were left exposed waiting for a whistle as Sam Barker charged in and carried the ball down the flank himself. He reached the byline and squared the ball toward a flurry of arriving Garforth players, but the ball was eventually hooked clear.

Nick Thompson was the next Garforth player to almost rub salt in Goole’s wounds as his first-time volley, following a pinpoint cross into the area from Ancliff, flew very narrowly past the left stick going into the final 5 minutes of the first period.
That was the final action of a very one sided 45 minutes which saw Garforth head into the dressing room with a 3-0 advantage.

Goole, seemingly with little to play for, came out on top in the opening stages of the second period and managed to contain Garforth within their own half.

And unsettlingly, Goole were gifted a way back into the game for their efforts following an unfortunate error by Callum Brown, in which the defender went to smash a clearance up field but a bobble resulted in him instead slicing the ball straight across the 6 yard box for Henry Curtis to tap into an open net at the near post. This made the scoreline 3-1 with 51 minutes played.

Goole’s James Arnold was perhaps very fortunate to only be shown a yellow card after 60 minutes, following an aggressive and late tackle head on with Matt Ancliff along the touchline, which sent Garforth’s forward rolling on the ground in pain, and produced a furious reaction from Town’s bench.

Thankfully Ancliff was fine to carry on however and a minute or so after play resumed, he nearly grabbed a goal for himself, driving a strike towards the near post which forced a good save from Zaniewski.

Garforth put the game to bed with 69 minutes played, as Sam Barker ensured Matt Ancliff’s deflected effort that was trickling in went in on the goal line.
Ancliff found himself in on goal after turning his marker inside the area, firing the ball through the legs of the goalkeeper but deflecting off Zaniewski’s thigh on the way, which sent the ball into a slow bounce towards the goal line. Goole rushed to clear, but Sam Barker had already arrived to tap it home.

Callum Petch, who was earlier substituted on for Goole, nearly netted the second screamer of the game as he cut inside Dan Coupland on the edge of the box and hit a curling left footed shot towards the Garforth net. Toby Wells was rooted the spot and could only watch on, but luckily the ball struck the left post and bounced back into Town’s possession.

Goole right back Zavier Elicin was having a torrid evening dealing with constantly swapping Marshall and Ancliff running at him, and once again Marshall got the better of the defender with 83 minutes gone. Sam Leach was arriving at the far post, and Marshall had squared the ball past the goalkeeper, but his pass was just a little too fast paced for Leach to get a strong connection on and he sent his shot wide of the side netting.

Knowing the job was done, Garforth did well to keep possession and frustrate their opponents for the final 10 minutes, playing some quality football in the process. Some nice passing saw Town break down the wings on a number of occasions, as they had all evening, but a 5th goal evaded the Miners.

The referee later blew the final whistle closing out a fantastic performance from Garforth in their final home match of the season.

Strong back to back 4-1 victories at home for the Miners will be pleasing for Paul Marshall, who will want to carry the run on heading into the season finale away to Silsden this coming weekend.