Resilient Worksop Town praised after last-gasp equaliser

Delighted manager Craig Denton praised his players resilience as Matt Sykes struck a 90th minute equaliser to snatch a point at high-flying Knaresborough Town.
Craig DentonCraig Denton
Craig Denton

Sykes struck his second of the match to salvage a 3-3 draw as the Tigers came from behind on three occasions to stay in mid-table in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division.

Denton admitted: “I thought we were overall quite poor. Did we just lay down and give up? No we didn’t, we carried on and had loads of resilience.

Craig DentonCraig Denton
Craig Denton

“We deserved something from the game but I do understand why Knaresborough are up there. They have got some individuals who create problems and they’re quite solid.

“They’ll think that we didn’t deserve anything and did we get a little bit of luck towards the end? I think we did. Did we deserve a bit of luck? Yeah, as we’ve been unlucky the last few weeks.

“We’ve had a bit of luck on our side and we have come away with a point against a strong Knaresborough side.”

Knaresborough opened the scoring in the first two minutes when Nick Black converted Ben Cohen’s pass.

Kyle Jordan curled the visitors level in the 28th minute, only for Cohen to tap Knaresborough back in front.

The battling Tigers equalised before half-time through Sykes’s spectacular strikde.

Brad Walker bent in a fine goal after a one-two with Black, but Sykes rescued the point when he tucked a shot under the keeper.

Denton added: “Again it was a slow start. They scored after two or three minutes and then we were on the back foot again.

“It needs to stop because we can’t expect to win games 4-3 and we can’t concede that many goals.

“We’ll look at it and work out what we need to do and change a few things around.”

Denton also welcomed two new signings to the club — Julian Lawrence, who started the 3-3 draw on his return to the Tigers for a second time, and Aaron Moxam, a substitute.

He added: “Julian was captain at Sheffield FC and he became available in the week.

“I sat down with him and we had a long conversation because I know he has represented this club before.

“My focus is on wanting players who will go into battle and run through brick walls — and Julian is one of them.

“Whatever has happened in the past I expect Julian to come in and work really hard for Worksop Town — and I think he did that.

“I asked him to pick up a different position (at Knaresborough) so it was a little bit new to him as he’s an out and out centre-half.

“His job was to sit in front and protect the back three, which he did.”

Denton said Moxam was a proven goalscorer.

“People may question why he didn’t start the game,” said Denton. “I’ll always back my players and on Saturday we won 6-1, so I didn’t want to change much because that’s not fair.

“Aaron came on but didn’t get the service we wanted him to get, but he’s new to the group.”