Northwich Victoria 3, Farsley AFC 3

Farsley finished with just eight men after a rash of late cards but held out for a point from this Evo-Stik League Division One North clash at Northwich Victoria.

Neil Parsley was fuming over the performance of the officials, which he thought was below the standards the league should expect.

The Farsley boss was also left wondering how long his captain Rob O’Brien will be out after losing him to injury in the first half.

O’Brien got the visitors off to a great start when he opened the scoring in the second minute – and he quickly netted again when converting Matty James’ tenth-minute cross.

After O’Brien damaged ankle ligaments and had to make way, Northwich got back into the contest.

Marc Williams pegged one back soon after the Farsley skipper’s departure and Alexander Taylor’s 39th-minute strike saw the sides going into the break on level terms.

Farsley regained the lead following a well worked 70th-minute free-kick, James claiming the final touch.

But an 81st-minute incident led to the Victoria equaliser and was the beginning of the reduction in Farsley’s numbers.

Ryan Serrant was shown a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity and Dale Wright netted the resulting penalty.

Matt Dempsey was then sent off minutes later and Simeon Bambrook followed soon after, both for dissent.

Parsley said: “I thought we deserved more than a draw but it doesn’t go well when the referee and his assistants appear to be incompetent.

“I saw Ryan’s foul as being outside the area but the ref gave the penalty and then the red card for last man.

“At least five minutes must have passed before Matt got his red card for remarks and gestures to the assistant and minutes later Sim gets sent off.

“We probably played 20 minutes with nine men and at least ten with eight – and then the ref gives ten minutes of added time! The only stoppages were when he was waving the red cards our way.

“I think it was positive for us that the boys were strong enough to ensure we got a point. In the end we battled well.”