The next goal-scorer was fitting. As Ralph was a big believer in giving local talent a chance, it was appropriate that there was a past, present and future theme to the Legends squad. So when 16-year-old Lightowler, a member of Garforth’ s new under 21s team, it was a nice moment. The second half was one-way traffic. The Garforth Legends were literally camped in the Bird in Hand’ s half and were rarely threatened at the other end.
Black, twice, and Connor had easy finishes to take Garforth’ s tally to eight. Connor, an immensely popular Non League player in the West Yorkshire, then brought one of the biggest cheers of the afternoon after marching forward from his centre-back slot and planting a 30-yard unbelievable shot into the stanchion.
Shortly after he was presented with the chance to seal his hattrick after Bray was wiped out. However, his chipped penalty attempt flew over the crossbar. Fisher and Black made up for the miss by taking Garforth to eleven goals for the afternoon.
Brett Renshaw, one of Garforth’ s greatest captains and skipper for the day, collected the trophy from Ralph’ s young great nephew Jack Yelland at the end. Garforth were the winners, but the real winners were charity and community spirit.
“ Because of the Bank Holiday fixture schedule, it meant that a few of the club’ s ex-players were unable to play because of Evo Stik games tomorrow( Monday).
“ Fortunately we got to the day with 16 lads, who were all a credit to themselves. The commitment and enthusiasm was first class. Ralph would have been proud of everyone who took part, not just the Garforth Town lads, but the Bird in Hand as well because they never gave up despite the score-line.” Garforth Town Legends defender Lee Connor
Garforth Town Legends( 4-4-2): Ben Hunter, Milton Turner, Chris Fisher, Andy Sunley, Brett Renshaw( captain), Lee Connor, Nick Black, Craig Tonkinson, Duncan Bray, Andy Rowan, Sam Leach. Subs: Jack McCarthy, Jassim Alali, Harrison Lightowler, Reece Buckle, Tommy Reynolds, Dave Robertson.
Bird In Hand Rangers: Dave Ross, Anthony Wilson, Damon Barrow, Liam Woods, Scott Fletcher, Barry Morris, Andrew Stower,, Mark Butler, Ryan Barrow, Danny Furlong, Richard Sykes. Subs: Matty Hurrell, Ian Sharman, Lee Higgins.