Farsley Celtic 1 Alfreton Town 1

The Celts survived a great test with almost superhuman effort on Saturday - and it was not posed by the visit of Alfreton Town in the Conference North.

Farsley's forthcoming FA Cup first-round tie against MK Dons had threatened to affect their attempt to gain points.

There has been talk of nothing else as the club gear up to host their Coca-Cola League Two opponents. The press office at Throstle Nest has been working overtime to maximise the coverage for this Sunday's game.

But boss Lee Sinnott has worked hard to keep his players in touch with reality. He wanted them to have the blinkers on until they had reached the finishing post on Saturday.

With years of experience in the game, the former FA Cup finalist (Sinnott played for Watford at the old Wembley Stadium when Graham Taylor's men lost 2-0 to Everton) ensured his players thought only of Alfreton at the weekend.

That helped them to negate the threat of the visitors and come from a goal down to gain a point from a tough fixture.

Only five minutes separated the goals but there was a tough team talk for both managers sandwiched between the two strikes.

There were few real chances apart from the goals as the sides gave honest sweat and toil.

Neither keeper was extended either before or after they picked the ball out of their respective nets.

Sinnott's half-time de-briefing must have been the more difficult as his side had fallen behind in first-half stoppage time.

A long throw was headed on before David Reeves managed to get behind the last defender and then stab the ball in past despairing home keeper Paul Cuss.

Just five minutes after the interval, the Celts were level and it was Remo Nesa who netted the spectacular equaliser.

Andy Watson had played the ball across to the left winger who cut inside before sending a 20-yard shot into the bottom corner.

Farsley made a handful of half-chances but fell just short of grabbing a winning goal.

"When I looked back on the game, I was disappointed that we didn't get all three points from a home fixture but I was very impressed with the way the players went about it, their approach to it was very professional," said Sinnott.

"When you take into account what was around the corner, the players showed great focus on what was in front of them on the day. For me that was the most pleasing thing.

"No one was distracted by what we can now start talking about as the next game.

"It would be silly of me to dismiss it as just another game, we all know it is far from that, and the players were very aware of it.

"But they stuck to their task against Alfreton and, in my opinion, were unfortunate not to get all three points.

"We had a few changes, especially at the back because Martin Pemberton and Carl Serrant were injured.

"They were not rested for the FA Cup. It was a decision based on the fitness of the players and their worth to the side throughout the whole season, not a case of making sure they were able to compete in one game.

"It was great to see Remo Nesa getting his first start. Because of our good cup run, he has been sidelined for five weeks since we signed him but he marked his full debut with a goal which was well deserved."