Farsley Celtic 1, Alfreton Town 1

Farsley had to come from a goal down to claim a draw from their FA Trophy second-round tie against Nicky Law's Alfreton Town.

Tuesday night's replay would not have been necessary if the Celts had made the most of their strong finish after equalising at Throstle Nest.

However, it could have been Alfreton going through at the first time of asking.

Former Farsley youth and Bradford City trialist Chris Walton twice thumped the ball against the post with his side 1-0 up. Had the visitors taken a 2-0 lead, they looked good enough to see it through.

Farsley manager John Deacey knew that and said: "First half we were second best but we had words in the dressing room at half-time. We had to make a couple of changes and I think they worked.

"We are very disappointed that we didn't win it at the end because we were on top at that stage. There were some good displays - Craig Bentham in central midfield was awesome.

"Steve Torpey was much more of a threat to Alfreton in the second half and young keeper Chris Backhouse has done really well.

"We will have Amjad Iqbal back for the replay after a one-game suspension and possibly Ryan Crossley so we will be stronger."

There was little for Backhouse or his counterpart Kyle Sutcliffe - himself another former Farsley junior - in the first half.

The home side threatened just once before Alfreton broke the deadlock when Celts skipper Simeon Bambrook headed over from a Roy Stamer cross.

The 17th-minute opener came in route-one style. Sutcliffe launched a kick forward, former Sheffield United man Georges Santos helped it on and Peter Knox skipped wide of Backhouse before slotting in from an acute angle.

Lee Tuck and Stamer gave the Town defence problems but Walton hit the woodwork for the first time six minutes after the break. He beat Back-house to a throughball but his stabbed shot hit the base of the post and came out.

Farsley came back with efforts from Bambrook, which brought a fine save out of Sutcliffe, and Torpey.

Just after the hour, Walton was denied again. He turned inside and out to make space for a shot but it struck the same post.

Deacey reshuffled his pack and striker Damian Reeves was introduced, with defender Mark Hotte making way. The change helped and with 15 minutes remaining Farsley finally levelled.

More good work from Tuck led to Reeves getting possession inside the Town area and he drilled the ball back through the six-yard box for James Knowles to net with a composed finish into the bottom corner.

Walton threatened again but Backhouse was well placed to pluck his 30-yard dipping shot out from under the bar.

Farsley skipper Bambrook hit a pile-driver of a free-kick injury time that Sutcliffe dived full length to parry.

Former Bantams boss Law agreed with his counterpart that a draw was probably fair from the game. He said: "I thought it was a difficult game but a good one, close and with plenty of incident.

"The replay is a different game. We won't be favourites just because we are at home but we know if we work as hard then we can do well against Farsley, even though they are a division higher."