Gateshead 1, Farsley 1

John Deacey has been confirmed as Farsley manager on a permanent basis - and he will be thankful to have a second bite of the cherry with an FA Trophy first-round replay against Gateshead at Throstle Nest on Tuesday.

The Celts were held to a draw at the International Stadium and their opponents made light of the fact that there are two divisions between the clubs.

The hosts gave Farsley's Blue Square Premier players no time on the ball and also matched them for creativity throughout the game.

"It was definitely a fair result, one of those that could have gone either way and the stats show that," said Deacey, who had been in caretaker charge since Lee Sinnott's move to Port Vale at the start of last month.

"Both sides had nine goal attempts and were equal with on-target shots, five apiece, so it was very even. We will look to make home advantage count on Tuesday and we will change it around a bit.

"We had a couple of players missing and Ryan Crossley was injured. He has a bad back which is being made worse by these hard pitches. Even though we still have a few out for Tuesday, we will mix it up a bit.

"Gateshead have proved they are a hard side to beat at home. The north east is a difficult place to go to and the pitch conditions brought their own problems.

"We will get them down to our place and make sure it's a completely fresh start by changing our starting line-up."

Celts goalkeeper Tom Morgan was named player of the month for November by the club's supporters and showed why they value him so highly when he dived at the feet of Gateshead forward Graham Armstrong in the fifth minute.

Farsley had a good chance to open the scoring themselves on the quarter-hour mark but Morgan's opposite number Peter Keane pulled off a superb double save by parrying James Knowles' header and then blocking Gareth Grant's follow-up effort.

Keane was soon in action again when he tipped a fiercely-struck Simeon Bambrook free-kick over the bar in the 18th minute.

The game remained goalless at the break, despite the best efforts of both sets of players on the bitterly cold afternoon. All the players and coaches were content that the game went ahead but it was crisp underfoot and became more firm once the sun dropped.

The home side were still causing problems for Deacey's men in the second half and forced another good chance when Wayne Phillips got through and took a shot from the edge of the area but Morgan pushed it for a corner.

Farsley's former Bantams forward Steve Torpey, who only made his home debut for the Celts last mid-week, came close to netting his first goal for his new club. Grant put him through in the 71st minute but, with only the keeper to beat from inside the area, his shot hit the bar before going safe.

Gateshead took the lead three minutes after Torpey's effort went begging but that lasted just two minutes.

The home side broke the deadlock through a route one smash and grab. Keane hit a long clearance, Armstrong reached it first and helped the ball over Morgan.

There was a little more craft about the equaliser as good work from Grant and Scott McNiven on the left saw the ball worked inside to Bambrook and he marked his comeback from injury with a cracking 20-yard shot to book the replay.

Celts chairman Andy Firbank said he was unhappy at the team's current form but insisted moves would be taken to rectify that - and appointing Deacey as manager was a positive step.

"John was the last candidate to give his presentation to the board and he made very strong proposals about how to take the club forward," said Firbank.

"He was clear about what he proposes to do when the transfer market opens in January and our choice had nothing to do with favouritism, it was made on a business basis that John was the best man for the job from a list of strong applicants."

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