The young Colls welcomed Football League club Harrogate Town to the Regional Electrical Services Stadium on Wednesday which proved to be an entertaining game from start to finish.
The Colls started on the front foot and after excellent work down the right from Turps and Morgan set Clegg up 18yards out, but his shot cannoned off of the bar.
This was a constant theme in the early exchanges and unbelievable build up play resulted in Turps and Morgan again combining beautifully, this time to work the ball to the byline before pulling back only to see Sam’s effort bundled wide of the front post.
The Harrogate team couldn’t cope with the intensity of the play and Pontefract again went close when Sam prodded goalwards, only to see the keeper make a great block.
The full backs of Morgan and new signing Kacper were excellent and the latter got onto the end of a long ball from Lax, before racing into the box and forcing another smart save from the Harrogate stopper.
Harrogate grew into the game as the half went on and a rare break forward set the lively number 10 away, he slid a ball goalwards but the excellent Cole slid back to deny the number 9 a simple tap in.
Colls dominated the rest of the half without having any clear chances.
The second half was a more even contest with Colls looking to play the more attractive style of football and Harrogate sticking to their more direct approach.
Pontefract created several good opportunities when getting behind the Harrogate back line but several times when balls were fizzed across the box, the Harrogate keeper dealt well with them.
When the first goal came, it was somewhat fortunate (or was it world class) a cross was partially cleared to centre back Cole who cut back past his man and whipped a delightful ball into the box which evaded everyone and nestled into the far top corner, much to the delight of Cole and his teammates who celebrated in front of their classmates watching on in the stand.
Colls struck again quickly when good play released Hilton who used the great run of Kacper as a decoy to cut back onto his right foot, but as he did the ball was handled by a Harrogate defender and Clegg stepped up to slot the penalty away. 2-0 and Colls in cruise control.
We then put ourselves under pressure with some needless free kicks and one of these resulted in a lifeline for Harrogate. They whipped the free kick over the wall and Lax unusually spilled the ball into the strikers path, who with the freedom of the 6 yard box slotted home to bring it back to 2-1.
Harrogate had a half chance which was tipped over by lax but then Ponte had the chance to win it. Bouncer worked excellently to win the ball back high up the pitch and played a delightful ball through to Turps, who rounded the onrushing keeper only for the ball to keep rolling away from the striker and the supporting Clegg and agonisingly trickle wide before either could tap into the empty net.
In the 8th minute of added time and the Harrogate keeper looking to emulate Alison with an injury time goal, Harrogate swung the ball in from the corner. A scramble ensued and a volley was well saved by Lax before being scrambled to safety and the final whistle was heard much to the delight of the Colls staff and players.
A really good game of football and a thoroughly deserved 2-1 Colls win.
Well done guys.