Knaresborough Town left with nothing to show for positive display at high-flying Beverley Town

Simon Parkes men were the equal of their hosts throughout Saturday’s match, but were undone by two late strikes after believing they had taken the lead themselves with 20 minutes to go.

Sam Barker got them back on terms shortly after the interval, and Jack Dyche then appeared to have handed the visitors the lead, only to be denied what appeared an obvious goal by some weak officiating.

Some effective early pressing by Knaresborough led to Sam Barker seeing a header from Slater Barnes’ fine left-wing cross saved by Leigh Overton.

Ben Gelder then brought a further save from the Beverley goalkeeper before Harry Lovick fired over at the other end as the home side settled.

Edd Hall had to tip a cross-cum-shot against his cross-bar as the hosts continued to press before denying Lovick from the rebound.

Beverley’s Glen Sani then fed the ball inside to Cameron Connelly, whose low shot beat Hall and found the net to open the scoring in the 30th minute.

McCauley Snelgrove was next to threaten when his shot struck the bar and Samuel Opoku fired over from the follow-up.

Knaresborough were far from overawed by their lofty opponents, however, and hit back shortly after the break when Dan Thirkell’s pass to Dyche saw the forward fouled, but the ball then broke to Barker, who levelled matters.

Dyche shot over soon afterwards, but was them involved in the game’s turning point when he seemed to have put his side ahead with a strong header from Sam Leverett’s corner.

The ball looked to be well over the goal-line before being cleared, but the assistant referee was unmoved by the Boro protests and play was allowed to continue with the scores still tied.

The inevitable happened three minutes late when Beverley broke and Luka Suluburic slammed home from a narrow angle on the left to give his team a 74th-minute lead.

Both sides made changes during the latter stages, but it was the hosts who benefited from theirs as the result was settled on 82 minutes.

Suluburic broke clear down the right and set up an easy chance for the recently-arrived Conner Harman to make it 3-1.

Defeat ends Knaresborough’s four-match unbeaten run and sees them drop one place to 11th in the table.

Next up for Parkes and his men is a home showdown with Eccleshill United this Saturday (3pm).