NCEL: Knaresborough Town 0-0 Yorkshire Amateur | Town rue late penalty miss

In a match of few chances, the teenage striker saw his effort denied low down to his right by Amateur keeper Suwara Bojang with little over 10 minutes remaining.

Bojang also prevented Hamilton being Boro’s hero in injury time with a point-blank save from the striker’s header.

The match was one of only two Northern Counties fixtures to have survived the inclement weather across Yorkshire.

The Manse Lane pitch had held up well to the flurries of snowfall in the past week. But both sides looked like the cold Saturday weather had got the better of them early on with a number of misplaced passes and a lack of creativity.

Prolific Amateur striker Craig Heard was ruled out of a return against his former club due to food poisoning and the visitors lacked fire-power against Knaresborough’s solid back three of Luke McCrum, Nick Radcliffe and Will Lenehan.

Amateur did, however, carve out the opening opportunity when Thomas Rose tested Boro goalkeeper Paul Hargreen’s palms from the edge of the area,

Byron Littlefair then skewed an effort well wide before Hamilton had three opportunities to seize upon a Bojang error before smashing his shot against the keeper from 20 yards.

Bojang was busy in acting as a sweeper-keeper all afternoon, and twice thwarted forward runs from Brad Walker well outside the box.

A mix up between Hargreen and Lenehan then presented Joel Hughes with a clear sight of goal, but after composing himself, the striker blasted straight at Radcliffe on the line, and the ball diverted for a corner.

On the half hour, Littlefair hit a stinging effort straight at Bojang before Hargreen made a similar save against Amateur’s forward Jasiah Donaldson.

Inside first half injury time, Hargreen was almost left embarrassed as he stood and watched Rose’s overhead kick trickle past the far post.

Knaresborough had played with the wind behind them in the opening period, but the gusts died down in the second period, and the players enjoyed a more open affair.

Within five minutes of the restart, Walker escaped his marker but could only poke his shot wide of Bojang’s left hand post.

The striker failed to connect to another move soon after, following neat play between Hamilton and Littlefair.

Amateur rarely tested Hargreen throughout the second period, but the tall stopper did need Ben Parkes to come to the rescue on two occasions with fine covering tackles.

Liam Tuck and Hilliard Serrao’s introduction from the bench gave impetus for the home side, and on 77 minutes their best opportunity came.

Parkes strode down the right wing and, after tangling with ex-Boro defender Carl Heard, the flying winger hit the deck inside the box.

Hamilton stepped up to the mark to take the ensuing spotkick, but his powerful effort was too close to Bojang, who fell on the ball low down to his right.

Amateur almost made the talented striker pay inside the final ten minutes but the crossbar denied Tom Marsden’s sweetly hit dipping volley from 25 yards.

Walker had two further opportunities to make his mark on the game but he miscontrolled the first, before a tame effort was straight at Bojang, who earned praise from Boro boss Brian Davey after the match.

And the keeper kept the scores level right at the death as he found himself in the right place at the right time to save Hamilton’s last minute header from Tuck’s free-kick.

The draw leaves Knaresborough in 12th in NCEL Division One with a trip to league leaders AFC Emley on Saturday.

Attendance: 171