Ossett United looking for home comforts after 10 men battle for a point

Wayne Benn’s men will be looking to make the most of the first home match since Ossett hosted Liversedge on October 15 and only the second at Ingfield since September.

They are up against a Bridlington Town side that is capable, but has struggled so far this season and comes into the game second from bottom.

Brid have lost all eight of their away league games this season, although they have picked up eight points from six home matches to show their capabilities.

Ossett go into the fixture on the back of a disappointing goalless draw that saw them lose ground on the top four in the division.

Away to fourth from bottom Sheffield FC, the Ingfield men were confident of building on the previous week’s away win at Pickering, but found their way to goal blocked by determined hosts responding to playing in front of a good sized crowd of 445.

They also had to play the last half-hour with 10 men after recent signing Nathan Valentine was red carded.

United’s team saw James Walshaw back to lead the attack while Josh Haigh started after impressing off the bench against Pickering and back in defence were Dec McGivern and Ross Hardaker.

An early chance saw Max Rhodes fire wide for the hosts and it took Ossett a while to settle, Haigh having their first effort of note, but clearing the crossbar.

They struggled to play any fluent football on a bobbly pitch in the first half and needed keeper Mat Zaniewski to be alert several times to keep the game goalless.

The visitors did have a big penalty shout, but after Walshaw went down in the area the appeals fell on deaf ears.

The pattern continued into the second half with Sheffield having the better of a scrappy contest. They fashioned a great chance when Rhodes got in at the near post only to shoot into the side netting.

Just after the hour mark Valentine was shown a second yellow for dissent and Ossett were down to 10 men.

They had to dig deep now and did so with Zaniewski again coming to the rescue with a save from a 25-yard strike. The resulting corner was headed wide.

United defended well in the closing stages and could even have nicked a winner with Walshaw’s header going just wide and another shot being cleared for a corner.

A late alarm saw a huge scramble in the Ossett box, but defenders put bodies on the line and managed to block several efforts.

United survived five minutes of added time and brought home a point for their efforts.