The striker Farsley tempted away from Conference neighbours Halifax Town made a belated debut for the Celts and came close to making himself an instant crowd favourite.

On from the start, Ryan Sugden almost netted a last-gasp winner for his new side as he put himself through a committed debut.

However, had Sugden reached that deep cross and netted to give Farsley three points it would have papered over the cracks of an under-par display.

The visitors were 2-0 down after half an hour of this contest and must have been wondering where their next points in the Conference North were coming from.

Sugden, who was denied a run-out in last week's win at Hucknall Town because of red tape following his transfer, must have been wondering if he had made the right move.

Boss Lee Sinnott said: "I honestly don't know whether to praise the players or chastise them. I will still be digesting the result and the display on the way home."

Sinnott was bemused by what he described as a "strange game", as he admitted in his post-match interview.

He said: "You can throw every cliche you can think of at this one; I won't go through the repertoire. At this moment I'm still undecided if it was a point gained or two points lost.

"If you put in a non-performance, even for half a game, you can get killed off by the opposition. If we had played for 90 minutes as we did in the second half we would have won the game and taken three points.

"Ifs and buts, that is all that came out of this game. We were inept in the first half, contributing to our own problems through bad decision-making and by trying to make impossible passes come off.

"In the second half I got the reaction from the squad that I had asked for and they did well to rescue a point and I wouldn't have been surprised if we had won it.

"I told them at half-time that we are unlikely to take the lead in every game but, even though you are not at the races in the first half, you can still get something.

"While I'm yet to make my mind up about what I confront them with at training this week, I have to say I was delighted with the positive response I got following the half-time talk."

Sugden, Damian Reeves and Gareth Grant formed a new-look front line in a 4-3-3 system that accommodated the new man.

It was one of three formations used by Sinnott, who has assembled a squad capable of mid-stream changes of direction.

The pitch was firm and grassy and the sun was shining but the cross-wind was a factor. It was the same for both sides but it seemed Farsley struggled to come to terms with it.

Steve Robinson put the home side in front with a shot from the edge of the area in the tenth minute. Then another attack just eight minutes later left Celts goalkeeper Tom Morgan no option other than to punch and Ben Saunders lashed the ball back with interest.

Farsley were a different proposition after the break but it took them a while to break down their opponents, when Damian Reeves followed a long through-ball and burst through the middle to plunder the Celts' first goal.

Just five minutes had elapsed before Farsley were on terms. Former Bradford City forward Grant provided the cross in from the right and Damian Dunne bundled the ball past the home keeper.

While new man Sugden was the last to be denied what would have been a dramatic late winner, he merely followed Amjad Iqbal and Roy Stamer, who also had chances in the last few minutes.

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