Late winner is uplifting for Celts (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Late winner is uplifting for Celts

4:33pm Sunday 25th October 2009 in Sport By Ian Whiting

Farsley Celtic 1, Vauxhall Motors 0

An injury-time winner yesterday lifted the lid on Throstle Nest and lifted Farsley Celtic off the bottom of the Blue Square North table for the first time this season.

The Celts turned in an afternoon of toil and sweat rather than craft and guile but they got their reward in the third minute of stoppage time. The victory rocketed them up to 16th place, but as one of five clubs on 12 points.

Because they have battled away to erase a ten-point deduction, they have won more games than most teams around them. They also have a much better goal difference, so that sees them at the peak of that group of clubs.

Senior players Simeon Bambrook and Mark Jackson, who are manager Neil Parsley’s coaching assistants, were in charge of the game. Bambrook was scheming from the dugout while Jackson was in the trenches marshalling the back four.

After the game, Jackson said: "We are all absolutely delighted. I texted Pars (the boss) from the dressing room. That is four wins on the trot now and to get one like that in the last minute was rousing.

"The lads could not be any higher if we had won by a margin. There wasn’t much chance of that because I think Vauxhall had got some info on us and they came, like they did last year, looking not to lose.

"Our players never gave up. We had a few chances and time was running out but the lads kept knocking on the door. That is the spirit we have in the dressing room at the moment and it’s obviously paying off."

The Celts must have thought they had scored in the 17th minute. An inviting through ball from skipper Dominic Krief sent Lee Ellington clear.

The visitors’ defence hesitated, appealing for an offside flag, and the striker raced forward before lifting a shot over the keeper, only to see the ball hit the post. It rebounded across the line but was hacked clear.

A Roy Stamer shot forced the Motormen's keeper Danzelle St Louis-Hamilton into a good save nine minutes before the break.

Home striker Gareth Grant sent in a shot that flashed just wide of the foot of the post just before the break.

The longer the game went on, the more the Motormen retreated into their own half. The Celts still pushed but a 78th-minute corner from substitute Liam Shepherd whizzed through the six-yard box just in front of Ellington’s forehead.

Ellington fired over from a later free-kick but the big striker was not to be denied.

Into the last minute of time added on, Grant raced behind the backline and sent in the perfect cross for Ellington to head high into the net.