It was a disappointing afternoon for Paul Marshall’s side who looked disjointed for much of the game, and a lack of quality in front of goal cost them dear.

Callum Brown replaced utility man Liam Woods who moved to centre-back to replace Sam Denton who was forced off on Wednesday night due to illness. Another change saw Nick Hutton given a start in place of the unavailable Nick Thompson.

For the second time in as many games we conceded early. Ben Parkes headed home at the near post Carl Robinson’s corner kick to open the scoring after just three minutes.

The Miners had their chances first half; Nick Hutton (?) saw a shot cleared off the line after Jack Lazenby’s corner kick was played back in by Dan Coupland, then Matt Antcliff was denied on the edge of the box by the recovering Declan Racher when released by a ball over the top. Hutton then saw a low strike kept out by Knaresborough ‘keeper Tom Brown after Burgess played him in from the left.

The visitors looked dangerous on the counter-attack, although were at times helped by poor-decision making by the Garforth defence. Tom Dugdale put a low shot against the side netting after the ball was given away in the middle of the park.

A good spell for The Miners followed before the break, but against stubborn opponents a goal just wouldn’t come. Liam Woods was another Town player to force a goalline clearance, from Lazenby’s corner, then Burgess’ overhead kick just cleared the bar. Home supporters thought we’d found an equalizer from our best move of the game. A superb delivery from Antcliff found Burgess who rifled into the net but was judged to be offside.

The visitors doubled their lead on 51 mins when the ball was given away to Joseph Navier who made his way into the box and finished low into the bottom corner.

Town huffed and puffed from then on; Fraser Hansen’s inswinging free-kick on 69 mins deserved a goal but there was nobody turn it home, then substitute Sam Denton headed wide from Hansen’s corner shortly after. Brown in the Knaresborough goal was only tested once in the second half, tipping over Coupland’s rising strike. Sub Luis Silva headed over another Hansen corner late on, but the visitors went on to wind down the clock and claim their first win of the season.

One positive from the game was the return from injury of fullback Sam Leach on 72 mins, making his first appearance since last December. With no game next weekend The Miners now have ten days to put things right before a visit to Barton Town next Tuesday 30th (kick-off 7:45pm).