Barnoldswick Town vs 1874 Northwich

Recap

1874 battle to earn draw at Barlick after being reduced to ten men

By Jack Owen

1874 had to play the majority of the second half with 10 men, after Ryan Mitchell received a red card for reacting to an off the ball incident, but they showed an encouraging togetherness to graft their way to a deserved draw against Barnoldswick Town.

The Greens started the game well and took the lead in the second minute when Bailey scored from a penalty – deservedly awarded when Scott McGowan was fouled by a Barnoldswick defender.

1874 had the ball in the back of the net again in the 13th minute after Bailey’s powerful freekick  seemed to come off the post and in, but the linesman, raised his flag and disallowed the goal for offside to the astonishment of the 1874 players and supporters

1874 continued to attack, and doubled their lead on the half hour mark. An excellent cross found Sam Hind at the back post, he cut the ball back to Scott McGowan who placed the ball underneath the keeper to record his fifth goal of the season

Almost straight from the kick off, Barnoldswick reduced the deficit, when a cross from the left found their striker – Hollindrake and sent a bullet header past Greg Hall to give the home side a life line

Minutes into the second half there was a game changing moment, whilst both teams prepared for a Barnoldswick free kick, a linesman flagged and called the referee over, and this exchange resulted in Ryan Mitchell being shown a red card for an off the ball altercation

1874 now had to dig in to protect their lead, and they did so brilliantly with Mark Jones coming off the bench to add guile to the defence. Jones and his fellow defenders defended valiantly but the home side equalised in the 82nd minute when a shot from the edge of the box rebounded to Hollindrake who didn’t need a second invitation to net his second goal of the game by beating Hall from close range

So in the end the points were shared but it will certainly be the home side who will feel better as they rescued a point from a two goal deficit whilst
1874 must reflect on an avoidable off the ball incident that cost them all three points

1874 | Hall, Connor, Mitchell, Middleton, Russell, Wellstead, Chappell, M.Woolley (C), Hind, T.Bailey, McGowan.
SUBS | Jones for McGowan (47 minutes) R.Bailey for Middleton (67 minutes)