Kildale 5 Kneeton Park 3

THE top two in division one clashed in an incident-packed match at Kildale last Sunday.

The home side knew that a win would see them leapfrog over visitors Kneeton Park at the top of the table and they looked fired up from the start.

The nippy Joe Busby had already missed a great chance when Neville Aufret put Kildale ahead in the 12th minute with his first goal for the club. Jon Stephenson had tried to create an opening for himself, but the ball fell nicely for Aufret on the right and he smashed it into the roof of the net from ten yards.

The visitors just could not get going at this stage and were showing none of the form which had taken them to the top in recent weeks.

Kildale were well in control and almost increased their lead when first Mark Lewis had a 16th-minute effort well saved at the near post by Kneeton keeper Danny Dale and then Stephenson shot narrowly wide from a tight angle soon after.

It seemed they might rue those misses as Kneeton were finally brought to life. With Jason Newall getting a grip in midfield and the front two of Wayne Gredziak and Danny Cartwright starting to stretch the home defence, the leaders scored twice in five minutes to turn the match on its head.

Gredziak fired them level in the 36th minute, bursting on to Newall's perfect through ball before cutting inside and finishing well with his right foot.

Then Craig Lovell hit a 20-yard screamer into the top corner to give the visitors a rather undeserved half-time lead.

If Kildale felt a little hard done by to be trailing at the break, they soon set about putting it right. They got themselves back on terms within a minute of the restart when David Grainge sent a 35-yard free kick flying into the top corner for a memorable goal.

Substitute David Fawcett then missed a hat-trick of opportunities in the space of just four minutes. Twice Dale denied him with smart saves and he then fired over from close range.

With Kildale now back on top, it seemed only a matter of time before they regained the lead and the goal duly arrived in the 55th minute, although there was some debate as to who scored it.

Kneeton only half cleared a corner and the ball fell to Busby out on the right. He curled the ball in towards the far post and it somehow ended up in the back of the net. While his team-mates went over to congratulate Busby, Grainge was claiming that he had got a touch off his shoulder.

But it mattered not to Kildale as they now had the upper hand.

Busby was causing problems for the visitors' defence every time he got the ball and only the agility of Dale denied him a goal which would definitely have been his.

The game seemed won for Kildale after an hour when Grainge hit another free kick into the top corner, this one from even further out, to claim his hat-trick.

But Kneeton showed why they were top of the table and, despite being below their best, they launched a late fightback.

With 20 minutes left, Gredziak had a powerful shot well saved by Paul Clemence and Cartwright could not quite force in the rebound.

Then in the 77th minute, just as the visitors' frustrations were starting to show, they were given a lifeline. The referee adjudged that Stephen Pennock had brought down Cartwright in the box and awarded Kneeton a penalty.

The protests of the Kildale players were to no avail and Newall stepped up to send Clemence the wrong way and set up a frantic finale.

Five minutes from time Kneeton almost snatched the point which would have kept them top when Gary Nicholson's low cross from the right only needed a touch from Cartwright in the centre. But he could not stretch enough to put the ball in the empty net and Kildale survived.

That proved to be the visitors' last chance. In the final seconds their defence were caught out trying to play the ball around and Fawcett nipped in to hit Kildale's fifth and clinch the win which sent them to the top