UniBond League Division One: Radcliffe Borough 1, Farsley Celtic 1

RADCLIFFE Borough called the shots, but couldn't produce enough of the ones that counted as they squandered two precious promotion points at Stainton Park last Saturday, writes STEVE BOTT.

The Boro should have been at least four goal;s in front by the time Farsley rocked them with a 46th minute opener from Damian Henderson that punished the home side for their earlier indiscretions and, briefly, turned what had previously been an extremely one-sided game into more of a close encounter.

The writing looked to have been etched onto the wall in the first minute when leading scorer Jody Banim appeared to be set to mark his return from suspension with a quick strike.

The blond-haired magician put his hot wide of the near post this time though after Eamon Elliott's good work had set him up.

Banim and his strike partner, Richard Landon, then saw shots ping back off Farsley keeper Liam Sutcliffe and a defender after the errant custodian had initially spilled the ball.

The keeper recovered again after another similar mistake on nine minutes, this time saving a shot from landon.

Simon Kelly got himself booked on 19 minutes for a spot of over exuberance, but he was to make amends later with what turned out, amazingly, to be Boro's solitary goal.

The most glaring miss of the match came in the 33rd minute when Banim did all the hard work, outpacing the Farsley defence and rounding Sutcliffe, only to fire high over the bar with the open goal gaping before him.

Paul Cuthbertson had Farsley's first shot of note two minutes later, but Danny Hurst got down quickly to save with ease.

James Price produced an excellent tackle to stop Henderson on 40 minutes as Farsley began to creep into the game a little more and Ricjard Hepworth underlined that with a shot that hit Hurst on the legs three minutes before half-time.

Henderson's goal arrivved a minute into the second half after he and Chris Newton swept through the sleepy Boro back line and gave Hurst no chance.

Landon slid in on goal 13 minutes later in a bid to meet Richard Battersby's excellent cross from the right, but it took a cracking strike from Simon Kelly to level the scores on 61 minutes as he smashed in another great cross from the right.

Banim forced two more fine saves from Sutcliffe before the final whistle, the last one in the last minute saw Sutcliffe leap to tip the ball over one-handed.

Boro boss Kevin Glendon said afterwards: "I wasn't disappointed with the performance, but we did miss some chances.

"Against teams like that who will just come and defend you have to get that opening goal because if you don't they will just sit back in there.

"If we had got the first goal on Saturday I promise you we would have ended up 4-0 winners."

So, a draw when a win should have been a formality. Let's hope they hit the target more often when fellow promotion-chasers Leek Town visit Stainton Park on Saturday.

RADCLIFFE BOROUGH: Hurst 7, Battersby 7, Whealing 6, G Wilson 7, Bean 7, S Kelly 6, Elliott 6, S Wilson 6, Landon 6, Banim 7, Price 7. Substitutes: Lunt (for Landon, 76 minutes), Kissock (for S Kelly, 85 mins). Not used: Walker.

Skipper Mark Demspey will be back after serving a one-match ban against Farsley.

Dempsey was suspended after accumulating five bookings, the last one coming in the FA Trophy first round replay at Accrington a couple of weeks ago.

The club expect a decision on their £330,000 Sports Foundation grant bid on December 3.