West Yorkshire League Premier Division

Oxenhope Rec 6 Hunslet Club 3

OXENHOPE had to come from behind twice to gain three more valuable points in a hard-fought game against a very physical Hunslet side.

The visitors took the lead on ten minutes when a through-ball found the Hunslet forward. He rounded keeper Sam Lee and slotted home.

On the quarter Oxenhope levelled when Michael Garnett latched on to a weighted pass, beat the offside trap and hit the target.

But Hunslet regained their advantage. On a counter-attack, their striker found himself one-on-one with keeper Lee and lobbed him as he came rushing from his line.

After the break Oxenhope hit a purple patch, scoring three goals in the opening ten minutes.

Garnett scored his second from a Dan Moriarty corner to restore parity. A long ball out of defence by Liam McNicol found Leon Smith, who beat his marker and scored from an unbelievably acute angle.

Tom Marshall then produced the goal of the game. Collecting the ball out wide, he danced his way past three defenders with some Maradona-style twists and turns. Advancing into the penalty area, he dinked the ball over the keeper to make it 4-2.

A defensive error then allowed Hunslet back into the game as their striker took full advantage.

Minutes later Marshall was again on target. Going for a raking cross-field ball by Moriarty, he tussled with the Hunslet keeper and swept the ball over the line.

Ollie Metcalfe then saw the keeper off his line and attempted an audacious lob from distance that just drifted the wrong side of the post.

Garnett secured his hat-trick with a thunderous strike from the edge of the box.

Hunslet’s defeat was compounded late on when they had a player sent off for a nasty scissor tackle on Marshall.

This Saturday Oxenhope travel the short distance to Craven League, Premier Division side Cononley, in a second round tie of the County Cup (1.30pm).

Oxenhope: Lee, Nelson (Day), McNicol, Wells, Walton, White, Smith, Moriarty (Kaine), Garnett, Metcalfe (Quinlan), Marshall.