Swans come up short at table-topping North Ferriby

Barton Town left North Ferriby empty handed but battled until the final whistle with the runaway leaders.

In the only Premier Division game to be on, which is testament to Ferriby’s groundstaff, the Villagers took the lead just before the break when Danny East converted a penalty. As the Swans fought for an equalizer Danny Earl slotted away a goal five minutes before the end. Nathan Jarman converted a penalty against his old side to halve the deficit.

The Swans started brightly, with Will Waudby receiving the ball on the left side and crossing to Sam Cable, whose header wasn’t far wide. Four minutes later Jon Oglesby fed through the ball to Will Waudby who closed in on goal and shot but it was blocked and out for a corner.

Barton’s best chance of the half came 13 minutes in, when Oglesby drilled a cross low across the area which Tom Waudby hit first time, forcing an excellent save out of Lewis Exall, who was in excellent form.

Midway through the half things started to get scrappy, Cable was spoken to by the referee following an off the ball incident with a Ferriby player. Scott Matthews and Tom Davie were both booked for late tackles.

Ryan Musselwhite was called into action after 25 minutes when Danny Earl cut in onto his left foot and shot at the Swans ‘keeper, but he parried it out for a corner.

Cable then did the same at the other end for Barton, cutting in onto his right foot before striking at Exall, with the same result, saved and out for a corner.

Five minutes before the break, Oglesby’s trailing leg brought down Danny East. The Ferriby man dusted himself down and slotted the spot kick, with Musselwhite unlucky not to get a hand to it.

Shortly after the restart A long ball was played through for Cable to run onto. Exall beat him to the ball but Cable’s momentum meant he caught the Ferriby ‘keeper, injuring him in the process. He tried to continue but was brought off ten minutes later for Jordan Douglas.

The second half was a lot calmer than the first, with both sides wrestling for the ascendancy. There were half chances for both but nothing of note.

With 20 minutes to go the Swans brought off Will Waudby and Cable for Danny North and Harrison Coley to shake things up in the Swans attack.

Grant Tait came off with an injury with ten minutes to go, with Swans boss Nathan Jarman bringing himself on.

With five minutes to go the Swans were chasing the game. The ball was slid through to Coley on the right. He squared it across the face of goal and Jarman came inches away from putting it in the net; only just missing it.

Seconds later Earl received the ball on the right, dispossessing Davie who went down but the referee waved play on. He cut inside and struck low into the bottom left corner to double the lead and all but seal the win.

In stoppage time Tom Waudby’s strike hit the hand of a Ferriby defender in the area, penalty for the Swans. Jarman took it and scored our first penalty in five months.

The last kick of the game saw the Swans with a free kick on the edge of the box. Jarman struck it but it went over the bar as the referee blew for full time.

A closely-fought game with the league leaders just doing a bit more to secure the win.