Kippax 2

Oxenhope 3

OXENHOPE grabbed a late winner in an enthralling game at Kippax, which proved to be a game of two halves in West Yorkshire League Division One.

With several players missing and played on rock-hard pitch, with a strong, biting wind it was the visitors that shaded the first half.

Their first chance coming after just five minutes when a cross from James Bailey was headed down by Tom Marshall but on the solid pitch the ball bounced high up and onto the crossbar.

On the quarter the pressure told, Marshall winning the ball on the halfway line, he drove forwards past two lunging tackles, before playing the ball out to Lee Reilly, who cut in to the edge of the box and seeing the Kippax keeper off his line he cleverly lobbed the ball over and in off the far post.

The home side raised their efforts but the Oxenhope defence held strong and with Ben White and Danny Makinson working hard in midfield, the visitors all efforts were repelled.

Reilly and Marshall both had good chances to extend the lead but both their efforts were blocked on the line.

Five minutes before the break the visitors' possession eventually was rewarded, Bailey swung in a corner and Scott Nelson rose above everyone else in a crowded box to head the ball home.

In the dying minutes of the first half it was Oxenhope who were having to scramble the ball off their own line with three brave blocks with keeper Ricky Driver and his defenders throwing their bodies at the ball to defend their goal.

Now, with the wind in their favour, it was Kippax who took control, Driver once again having to make a brave block when in a one-on-one with the home side’s striker and then he was called into action soon after when the ball was swung in and having to make a diving save to touch the ball to safety.

On 70 minutes the pressure did eventually tell, a long ball out of the Kippax defence was collected out wide and the cross was put away.

The home side were now in the ascendancy as they strove to find the equaliser, 10 minutes later they were rewarded when a corner from the left was headed in.

They continued to press and Oxenhope’s backline of Dayne Ward, Owen Williamson alongside Dan and Luke Scott defended as if their lives depended on it as Kippax believed they could snatch a remarkable comeback.

But it was Oxenhope who were to turn the tables, a Bailey free-kick from just over the halfway line was floated into the box, man of the match Nelson controlled the ball, thumped in a strike which ricocheted up off the keeper but Nelson’s persistence was rewarded when he got his head to the ball to nod it into the net past the custodian.

This Saturday Oxenhope travel to league leaders Boroughbridge (2pm) which will prove a hard test.

Oxenhope: Driver, Ward, Williamson, Scott L, Scott D, White, Makinson, Bailey, Reilly, Nelson, Marshall (Drake).

Meanwhile, Oxenhope Reserves suffered a reverse of their first team’s colleagues’ fortunes when going down 3-2 to a last-minute goal at home to Hunslet Reserves in Alliance Division One.

The home team’s strikes coming from Luke Snowden and Jason McGee. On Saturday they travel to Huddersfield Amateurs Reserves (2pm).