Mason is the man for Curzon

National League North: Curzon Ashton 2-1 Farsley Celtic

On a chilly Saturday afternoon at the Tameside Stadium, Curzon came out as 2-1 victors in what was an incredible game of football. End to end open play, penalties, penalty saves, long range goals, scuffles, last ditch double saves! Curzon’s game of the season so far now sees them unbeaten in their opening three games and sat seventh in the National League North table. An unbelievable kick off to the campaign for Cunningham’s men. 

A quick start to the game saw Celtic win a free kick in a dangerous position on the edge of the box after centre back Douglas Tharme committed to an early heavy challenge on Celtic number nine James Spencer. The challenge saw Spencer hurt for a couple minutes before getting up. The resulting free kick sailed over the bar. 

It was a cagey opening ten minutes to the match with neither team holding any meaningful possession. It was evident both sets of players had orders for no silly mistakes in the opening exchanges and not to concede anything early on. 

The first real opportunity from open play came for Celtic number eight Tyler Walton. The Celtic midfield strung together some tight quick passes before Walton managed to get a shot away, but it was easily matched by Curzon keeper Cam Mason. 

Celtic playmaker Luke Parkin was one of standout performers of the game. Parkin had licence to roam and was causing Curzon problems all over the field, whether it was off the shoulder of the last defender or coming deep to pick the ball up of the centre backs, he couldn’t be contained. 

After a mazy run from Luke Parkin, Max Harrop had no other choice other than to hack Celtics creator down before he could pose any real threat on to Cam Mason’s goal. Harrop saw the first yellow of the game. 

Parkin a couple minutes later followed up with strike from range but couldn’t get enough behind the shot to worry Mason. 

Curzon’s first real effort came just before the end of the first half as man the man in form Dominic Knowles, who had a brace in his last outing against Brackley, whipped a driven ball into Harrop on the edge of the box, who then managed to find Stephenson but his first time effort was ruled out by the linesman’s flag. 

As the second half began youngster Alex Curran was subbed off for the more experienced Dale Whitham.  

After just five minutes of football in the second half Curzon broke the deadlock as Dom Knowles struck away his fourth of the season after ricochet from a corner fell his way. 

With the momentum now on The Nash’s side Whitham tried his luck from range and a thirty five yard strike saw its way into the back of the Celtic goal. Keeper Steve Drench was disappointed not to keep the effort out but as they say, if you don’t buy a ticket you can’t win the raffle! 

And to finish of a chaotic opening fifteen minutes of the second half, Celtic nicked a goal back after some beautiful skill from number ten Jake Charles set up James spencer to fire into an open goal to give his side a life line in the match with over thirty minutes still to go. 

The following twenty minutes was relatively quiet with the midfield battle equalling each other out. To say it was turning into a scrappy game of football and a dogfight was an understatement.  

With the final ten minutes upon us Curzon were camped into their own half and had been for some time. The pressure from Celtic was relentless but the back three of Poscha, Turnbull and Tharme held strong. 

Up until the eighty sixth minute, where some shoving in the box resulted in the referee awarding Celtic a deserved opportunity to level things up after a dominant thirty minutes from the team in green. Substitute Will Hayhurst stepped up but a poor pen saw Cam Mason capitalise and make a save to keep hold of all three points for his side. 

The final chance for Celtic came for Jake Charles but an incredible double save from Mason saw Curzon secure the win. 

Picture by Oli Biddle (@Biddleofnowhere)