Farsley Celtic 0

Prescot Cables 0

A wintry afternoon at Throstle Nest was not warmed up by any fare served up on the pitch as the Celts' automatic promotion hopes took a huge dent in a goalless draw with Prescot Cables.

The two clubs look set to be play-off rivals now as the run-in gets underway. It could have been worse for the home side because Prescot had the ball in the net twice only to be denied.

Two strikes, ruled out correctly according to the refereeing assessor, left the visitors cursing their luck. There was no panic in the Farsley defence though. The assistant referee made good calls and there were no problems from the Prescot players.

"It was a keenly-contested 0-0 draw. Sometimes we have to give credit to the opposition and this was one of those," said Farsley manager Lee Sinnott.

"Prescot worked hard and kept their shape. They will look at the two disallowed goals and feel they should have had the win. I thought both times they had players offside and the officials felt the same. I wish that happened more often. 0-0 was a fair result and no bad or controversial decisions ruined the game. Prescot have the best away record in the league and now we know why.

"They are very hard-working and compact. They will give teams problems in every game they play this season."

It was a steady start with no quarter given, and Prescot were as committed to attack as the home side.

The hailstorm that swept in from the east on the biting wind did not threaten the game but it did make conditions even more difficult.

Every aspect of play was treacherous but defending became a nightmare. The visitors fashioned two chances inside a minute with Karl Connolly shooting across the face of goal before Jason Massie fired a low shot just wide.

The near misses helped Prescot's confidence grow and they had their best spell midway through the first half. Left winger Sam McNutt beat his marker to get in a rising angled drive but Celts keeper Liam Sutcliffe deflected it over the bar.

Minutes later McNutt had another opening and Sutcliffe was relieved to see his lobbed shot hit the bar after the keeper had got one hand to it.

Farsley recovered to force their first corner of the match on the half-hour.

Nothing came of it but the tide was beginning to turn and the Celts dominated the remainder of the half. Michael Midwood sent in three long-range efforts and Lee Duxbury had an eight- yard shot blocked after the best move of the first 45 minutes.

The Celts started the second half well but Sutcliffe, twice, and Carl Serrant - with a sublimely- timed and executed tackle inside the area - had to be alert to snuff out three dangerous breaks by the visitors.

Sinnott made attacking changes by introducing wide midfielder James Knowles for centre back Jon Dyson. However they were still struggling to break Prescot down and another Duxbury shot was blocked.

In the 67th minute, the visitors forced the ball over Sutcliffe's line but Massie was offside when he gathered Connolly's cross. When Mike O'Donnell sent in a fierce shot that rebounded off Sutcliffe's midriff 14 minutes later, Massie was one of three players offside so it was no surprise when the flag went up after he tucked the ball into the net.