Swans dominate but fail to find net against Knaresborough
2nd August 2021| Barton Town | 0-1 | Knaresborough Town |
| Att: 190 | Hunter 14 |
Barton Town fell to an opening day defeat against Knaresborough Town despite dominating the game, but failing to score.
Sean Hunter scored the only goal of the game for the visitors to hand Nathan Jarman a defeat in his first competitive game as Swans Manager.
| # | Player |
| 1 | Mike Emery |
| 2 | Josh Lacey |
| 3 | Scott Matthews 🟡 |
| 4 | Josh Baker ⭐ |
| 5 | Taron Hare (c) |
| 6 | Luke Hemingway |
| 7 | Noel Burdett 🔻Tait 53 |
| 8 | Jamie Goddard 🔻Davie 72 |
| 9 | Ben Hinchliffe 🔻Vickers 80 |
| 10 | Harrison Coley |
| 11 | Curtis Bateson |
| 14 | Jack Varley |
| 15 | Josh Vickers 🔺Hinchliffe 80 |
| 16 | Joe Simpson |
| 17 | Grant Tait 🟡 🔺Burdett 53 |
| 18 | Tom Davie 🔺Goddard 72 |
The Swans had the first major chance of the game in the third minute when the ball fell to Curtis Bateson in the area. His first time shot was straight at the goalkeeper however.
11 minutes in and some nice link up play between Ben Hinchliffe and Harrison Coley teed up Josh Baker, but he dragged his shot wide of the goal. Two minutes later and a bouncing ball fell to Coley, but he put his shot wide. The Swans were to regret missing these chances.
In the 16th minute, the visitors took the lead against the run of play. Sean Hunter was played in, with some appealing for offside. He ran in and slotted low past Mike Emery into the bottom corner.
Five minutes later the Swans had an incredible chance to level. Noel Burdett burst forward and set up Baker. His first time curling shot went the wrong side of the post from the edge of the area.
Knaresborough had an effort to double their lead. A nice through ball to their attacker resulted in Mike Emery pulling off a nice save to keep it 1-0.
The second half was similar to the first, ten minutes in and the Knaresborough defence did incredibly well to block a Hinchliffe overhead kick which looked destined for the net.
The frustration was growing for the Swans, who had the majority of the possession, but couldn’t find that final touch to score. Knaresborough rarely threatened in the second half, and defended well to see out the game and leave the Easy Buy Stadium with the three points.
