Farsley Celtic 4, Stafford Rangers 0

 Farsley hauled themselves above troubled Stafford Rangers in the Blue Square North table with a proficient and competent display that had their manager purring.

Celts boss Neil Parsley had skipper Amjad Iqbal fit despite the arm injury he picked up in the 1-1 FA Trophy draw at Burton Albion. He also restored Dominic Krief to the starting line-up after he sat out a one-game ban.

His selections were justified as the pair were immense, with Parsley saying: “It was a bonus having Ammers available and I thought it was the kind of game Dom would do well in.

“That is harsh on Tom Penford because he hasn’t done anything wrong but it is a squad game. The midfield did well but I thought the forwards were also sharp and held the ball up well.

“We scored four goals, had two disallowed and had other chances. We certainly created enough and the clean sheet just about wrapped it up. The players performed well all over the pitch.”

It was obvious they were up for the challenge by the positive manner in which they started the game. Lee Tuck shot over in the third minute and pressure from the Celts led to two early corners.

Stafford were under the guidance of Chris Brindley for the first time, the assistant having been promoted following the departure of former manager Steve Bull, but there were few bright spots for the new man.

Farsley broke the deadlock in the 27th minute with a signature flowing move. The ball was chipped to Andy Campbell, who guided it into the path of Jamie Price. The overlapping right back drilled a low centre into the area and Jake Speight lashed it in.

That was the only goal of the first half, a period which Farsley had dominated. Brindley’s first interval team talk needed to be a sterling one but Parsley’s was obviously better as the Celts picked up where they left off.

Campbell, Speight and Rory Prendergast all threatened before Farsley doubled their advantage just before the hour. Tuck dribbled his way into the corner of the area and then rifled a low drive across the visitors’ keeper.

From then on it was damage limitation for Stafford as their defence was cut to ribbons.

The Celts had two strikes ruled out for marginal offside decisions in a three-minute spell but netted their third in between.

A well-guided ball up the line by Ryan Serrant found Prendergast and he cut inside before laying it into the centre for Speight to fire in his second.

Farsley bagged their fourth goal eight minutes from time. A long-range Speight shot was parried by Rangers keeper Tim Sandercombe, only for Tuck to race in and chip the ball into the net over the sprawling keeper.

The performance will send the Celts into their Trophy replay with Burton on Tuesday on a real high.