Yeadon soccer player Alastair Long was gutted when his dream of playing against Manchester United was ended by an innocuous incident in Farsley Celtic's game on Saturday.

Long had been set to make his debut as wicketkeeper-batsman for Bradford League club Cleckheaton on Saturday but when the league called the whole programme off due to weather conditions Long made himself available for football.

Farsley manager Martin Harseign put Long on the subs bench for the home game with Gretna and he duly made his entry into the game.

However, in an amazing eighth minute of time added on a in a game with no injuries Long was stood on by an opponent and a bone in his foot was broken.

This cruel twist of fate meant that the 19 year-old would miss captaining the Northern Youth Academy in their representative game against Manchester United's Under-19 side at Halifax Town on Sunday afternoon.

A gutted Long limped along to the game on crutches and watched from the stand as his side, skippered in his absence by Halifax Town midfielder Damian Place, went down 3-2 to United.

The Academy had been warned off by Manchester United about tackling their players too hard and in the first-half this seemed to affect the Academy's game. They went 3-0 down.

It was a different story after the break as the Academy roared into action and they pulled a goal back through Gareth Hamlet, a tall, rangy forward from Halifax Town.

Academy hopes were raised even further when they were awarded a penalty which Damian Place easily converted but then Place had to be stretchered off the field almost immediately after being the subject of a bad tackle.

United lost a lot of the composure they had shown in the first-half as the Academy boys - playing in only their second game together - started to gell.

Halifax's midfielder Chris Newton had an impressive game as did Wesley Milnes from Ossett Town and Willie Griffiths from Halifax Town.

Yeadon's 17 year-old Ben Thackwray, who plays for Farsley Celtic, worked hard throughout until he was substituted as players made way to enable all the squad to participate in what was a memorable day for the Academy.

Long said:'I was well gutted when I realised I would not be able to play against Manchester United. I had really been looking forward to the game and to captaining the side. It would have been a great honour.'

He added: 'It was still a memorable day and people like Pat Rice, from Menston, should be thanked for setting up the Academy League in the first place. They have done a great job.'

The Carnegie College PE student will now miss two cup finals at soccer and will miss the first six to eight weeks of the cricket season.

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