21
Jan
Knaresborough Town progress into County Cup semi-final
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Knaresborough Town progressed to the semi-final of the County Cup last night (January 20), beating Garforth Town 5-3 on penalties.
After a gruelling 120 minutes at 0-0, a penalty save by Knaresborough keeper Edd Hall proved the difference between the sides.
Defender Will Lenehan was awarded man of the match.
Garforth currently sit ninth in the league above Knaresborough, the Northern Premier League Division One East.
In contrast, Knaresborough sit in 13th place in the Premier Division of the Northern Counties East League, having had an up-and-down season thus far.
Having won seven, drawn eight and lost 10, consistency has sorely lacked.
But, regardless of league form, the Boro seem to have an affinity with cup competitions.
A woeful start to last season had Knaresborough near the bottom of the table, but an upturn in form took them to a 12th-place finish.
Despite this, they managed to reach the League Cup final, in which they were narrowly defeated 3-2 by Beverley Town.
The season prior, the Boro reached the County Cup final but were beaten 4-0 by Pontefract Collieries, who are in the same league as Garforth.
Simon Parkes’ side go into the hat with Barnoldswick Town, Tadcaster Albion and Golcar United.
All four sides play in the ninth tier of the English football pyramid, with all the higher-placed sides having been knocked out.. Could it be third-time lucky for Knaresborough?
The draw is yet to be made.
Harrogate Railway out
Harrogate Railway’s County Cup dream ended last night, as they were beaten 1-0 away at Tadcaster Albion.
Punters could have been forgiven for backing the Rail to go all the way this season, as their emphatic 5-1 and 4-0 victories against Guiseley FC and FC Halifax Town showed they could take it to any level of semi-professional football team.
An agonising shot against the post in the last seconds was the final heartbeat of Railway’s incredible run in the competition.
Railway had lost two league games in a row before this tie, having only lost one all season prior.
After the game, co-manager Rob Youhil said:
I thought we deserved to take them at least to penalties, which we nearly did. We feel a bit hard done by, and they’re not happy in [the dressing room], which is right. But we have got to take the idea that the performance was way better and back to what we expect.
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