Farsley Celtic 1, Chorley 1: Wastefulness in front of goal costs Magpies first win of the season

Andy Preece’s side went into this clash having drawn 1-1 to Brackley Town on the opening day and a similar pattern to last weekend followed again here.

The Celts opened the scoring against the run of play in the seventh minute, Ryan Watson the quickest to get on the end of it after Tom Allan flicked the ball on with his head from a long throw.

However, Chorley didn’t have to wait long to get back on terms, Justin Johnson on the end of Billy Whitehouse’s cross with a smart finish past Zan-Luk Leban.

Johnson had a golden chance to double his tally for the afternoon only minutes after the restart, played through on goal and with time and space to open his body and shoot – but he couldn’t direct his effort at goal.

Leban continued to be busy in the home goal and, although chances were few and far between for both sides in the second-half, Jack Sampson forced the Farsley goalkeeper into his ninth save of the afternoon, heading the ball powerfully towards the far corner.

Farsley were reduced to ten men when Tom Allan was sent off with five minutes of regular time left to play after an off-the-ball incident.

The home side had the final chance of the afternoon in added time and forced a really smart save out of Matt Urwin, Isaac Robinson with a cracking effort that had the Chorley goalkeeper at full-stretch.

Preece in his post-match interview pointed to the scoring opportunities his side failed to take.

"Looking at the clear chances created, we should have won the game,” said Preece.

Farsley Celtic: Leban, Wilson (Carroll, 60’), Smith, Branson, Allan, Sheridan, Watson (Donaldson, 60’), C. Atkinson, Stevenson, B. Atkinson, Blair (Robinson, 71’). Unused: Silva, Allen.

Chorley: Urwin, Henley, Wilson (Smith, 45’), Ellis, Blakeman (Ubaezounu, 65’), Calveley, Nolan (Tomlinson, 75’), Hazelhurst, Johnson, Whitehouse, Sampson. Unused: Britton, Shenton.