Tadcaster Albion had to settle for a point against bottom of the table Keighley Town, having played over half an hour with ten men due to Spencer Harris picking up a thigh injury and having no more substitutions available.

A blustery afternoon at Cougar Park saw the wind play its part with the two teams switching ends before kicking off. Tadcaster, once underway, had the first chance of the half after eleven minutes with Olly Green ending a dazzling run with a low cross into the box for Daniel Davy who struck his effort high and into the roof of the net giving the visitors the lead. 0 – 1.

Chances either side of the 20-minute mark came for Davy with Alex Zachariou finding him in space in the box, his first chance was well saved and his second deflected.

The chances kept coming for Albion with Jayden Clarke-Thompson finding Green whose effort was deflected over the bar. On 26 minutes Green found Charlie Owen whose close-range strike was remarkably saved by the keeper’s shoulder.

On the half hour mark, Keighley had their best chance of the game; a miscommunication led to Harry Stead, in a one-on-one situation, bravely stopping a fiercely struck shot into his body - play was stopped whilst he recovered. Charlie Owen and Connor Erangey were the first into the book for a minor scuffle off the ball.

Olly Green, who had started the game in excellent form, had his afternoon unfortunately cut short. On 45 minutes, he chased a loose ball with Keighley’s Craig Billington and as contact was made he crashed into an advertising board hitting his head which left him unconscious for some two minutes. He was able to leave the field without any support after being treated by both club’s physiotherapists but was, however, taken to a local hospital as a precaution. As a club we all wish Olly the very best with his recovery.

Just before the half time whistle blew Clarke-Thompson was brought down inside the area but saw his appeal for a penalty waved away by referee Zeghoudi.

Following the restart Keighley took advantage of being downwind and on 53 minutes a free kick from within their half into the box found the head of a Keighley player who nodded it on to Billington whose strike hit the back of the net to equalise. 1 – 1.

Spencer Harris was booked for bundling over his man whilst stopping a Keighley attack but the home side, carrying momentum, had two opportunities fall to Harry Parsons; the first took a deflection over the bar and the second just wide of the post.

Just before the hour mark, substitutes George Brown and Oli Norman linked up to wind a ball into the box that reached fellow substitute Des Okoro who could only toe to it into the keeper’s gloves.

Harris left the field with an obvious injury just minutes after being reunited with fellow defender Ryan Gothard who came on as Tadcaster’s final substitute to make his first appearance since picking up a knock against Lancaster a fortnight ago
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With 17 minutes to play Keighley’s Erangey picked up the ball twenty-five yards out and shaped up to shoot, hammering his effort into the bottom right corner and giving the Cougars the lead. 2 – 1.

Minutes later, however, some poor defending saw Norman bundled over inside the box giving Tadcaster the chance for an immediate response through a penalty; Norman sent Fletcher the wrong way and struck his effort into the net levelling the game on 76 minutes at 2-2.

With six minutes remaining and despite having ten men, Tadcaster looked the more likely to grab a winner with Brown seeing his effort saved by the keeper whilst Owen’s shot also well dealt with by Fletcher, a minute later after Gothard’s headed pass found him in the box. Norman found Okoro with his back to goal, but his strike flew over the bar.

Despite the flurry of chances, the goal for either side did not arrive and the full-time whistle brought an end to a frustrating afternoon for the Brewers. Tadcaster will next host Knaresborough Town on this coming Friday night with kick off set for 7:45pm.

Starting XI: Stead, Porritt (Brown), Clark, Zachariou, Harris, Binns (Gothard), Clarke-Thompson, Davy, Green (Okoro), Owen, Campbell-Baldwin (Norman)
Subs: Brown, Okoro, Norman, Gothard

Report from Kieran Crook – Photos Courtesy of John Clothier