ASKERN VILLA 2-1 BARTON TOWN OLD BOYS
08/08/09

MATCH REPORT

Attendance 52

Gareth Barlow ( 60 )

A revamped Barton Town Old Boys, shorn of a number of familiar faces, a legacy of the club missing out on promotion last season, went down by the odd goal in three in the new season's opener at Askern Villa. It was a game Town can count themselves unfortunate not to have got something out of following a spirited second half display. Alongside the returning Tom Nicholson in goal, The Swans gave league debuts to Sam Brooks, Jake Thompson, Paul Wilson and Joe Clement as well as Dave Moulds and Mark Clare on the bench. For both Wilson and Clement it was to prove a painful and bittersweet afternoon. Town got off to the worst possible start, going a goal down in the first minute, James Naylor converting at the far post. The visitors responded well, Ryan Morton, although obviously lacking match sharpness, causing problems down the Askern right flank, before Town lost Wilson with a broken arm after a heavy fall following an innocuous challenge. Clare came on as substitute, Nathan White dropping to left back to fill Wilson's slot.

Barton were still getting to grips with the enforced change when Curtis Walker made it two in the 22nd minute. Town were up against it and chasing the game. And chase it, they did. Morton's free kick was headed on by skipper, Craig Suddaby and Hayden Barnett's full-blooded volley from just six yards out was superbly blocked by Liam Copley in the Villa goal. The second half saw Town take the game to Askern but the visitors had to regroup again in the 53rd minute, young debutant Clement being carried off with what later proved to be a broken ankle. Unfazed, Barton pulled a goal back on the hour mark, Gareth BARLOW glancing home a superb near post header into the far corner of Copley's goal after a great run and ball in by Sean Thompson. Buoyed, Town pressed for an equaliser, Copley turning another Morton free kick around the post and, following a number of corners, substitute Moulds heading home only for the referee to blow for a foul on the keeper.

With time running out, a Morton corner created havoc in the Askern area, the ball twice being headed off the line before being hacked away to safety by an increasingly desperate Villa defence. When, shortly after, the referee blew for full-time, a disappointed Town can take great heart from their second half display in trying circumstances. But the long term injuries to the desperately unlucky Wilson and Clement may well mean that manager Carl Stead will be looking for reinforcements to an already much-changed squad.

TEAM : Nicholson; Brooks, J.Thompson, Suddaby, Wilson ( Clare ); S.Thompson, Barnett, Clement ( Moulds ), White, Morton; Barlow. Sub ( unused ) Mail.