Nostell Tournament win is start of good things for Garforth Town, says head coach Graham Nicholas

Ossett Town 0-1 Garforth Town

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Match Photos are HERE

Garforth Town head coach Graham Nicholas hopes the Nostell Tournament final victory is the start of better things to come at Wheatley Park.

A brilliant strike from Gary Stohrer after just two minutes gave Garforth an unexpected win over their Evo Stik Division One North opponents.

Nicholas, who took the reins at Garforth last month, was “delighted” with winning his first piece of silverware as the Miners boss, but admitted the performance was more important.

Garforth chairman Brian Close (left) with Graham Nicholas

“I think it is massive and a massive confidence booster for the club and I think we are going in the right direction,” he said.

“Hopefully today was an indicator of how the club will go forward and progress. Obviously today has identified the players that will come in and sign for the club.

“We are strong, but we are missing some key players as three or four will come in. But the fans have seen how we will play and the philosophy and hopefully they’ll get behind us and see good results.

“I’m absolutely delighted with the result, but it’s about the long term vision and the bigger picture and ‘can those players do their roles’. Today they applied it.”

Ossett were expected to win. The Town side had the likes of former Garforth players Tom Taylor, Chris Walton and Fernando Moke. Prolific goalscorer Gareth Grant was up-front.

But, the final game of the very poorly attended tournament saw Garforth set off out of the blocks very quickly. Storher, who scored a sensational goal against AFC Emley in the semi-final, staked his name for a place in Nicholas’ squad for next week’s Northern Counties East League Premier Division opener against Thackley.

Storher broke clear from his right-back position and the Ossett defence backed off which allowed him to strike the ball into the bottom corner from 25-yards.

Minutes later Alex Booker found himself through on goal and was denied by a good save from Taylor.

There were hairy moments for Garforth. Goalkeeper Matthew Woodhall was fortunate to be awarded two free kicks after spilling the ball from corners on separate occasions.

But, Garforth were comfortable at the back and they were only deeply troubled a couple of times. Woodhall made a good save from Fernando Moke towards the end.

Gary Stohrer in action

Booker then wasted a glorious chance to seal the triumph. The striker blazed over from just inside the penalty area which meant the Miners had to endure a few nervy minutes at the end.

But Ossett were unable to score and Garforth were able to celebrate the start of a new beginning. Nicholas and his players celebrated with club officials, sponsors and supporters and the trophy is a reward for the hard work that has taken place at the club in the last two months.

Despite the defeat, Ossett boss Craig Elliott was happy with the workout for his Leeds who had played three games in the same amount of days. The Town manager was also impressed with Garforth.    

“It has been a good weekend in terms of managing it with players working and getting injuries,” he said.

“We had a tough and really physical match on Friday against Leeds and a lot of lads were heavy legged. The positive thing is everyone has got 90 minutes under their belts.

“We’ve had a few good performances. Today was a bit disappointing, but I was sort of expecting it. Of all the friendlies we have had that was more like a proper friendly in terms of being a bit slow.

“It is not my team, but Garforth looked so solid and organised which is a sign of any decent team. We found it hard to break them down. As much as we missing players, we still had good strikers out there. I think they will be absolutely fine this year and do well because of their organisation – a lot of teams will struggle to break them down.”

Ossett Town: Taylor, McGrory, Jeff, Walton, Richardson, Smith, Noteman, Fox, Grant, Wood, Moke. Subs: Hitch, Mack, Njie, Payne.

Garforth Town (against Ossett Town): Woodhall, Stohrer, Hawksworth, Allen, Kirk, Greenhalgh, Misambu, McMurrough, Black, Booker, Oyebanji. Subs: Conte, Hemmingway, Balis.

Referee: Andy Smith (Castleford)

Man of the match: Gary Stohrer (Garforth)