Barnoldswick Town 1 Northwich Victoria 1

TOWN fielded their fourth different keeper in their last four games at the Silentnight Stadium on Saturday.

Bradley Garnett, a midweek signing from Burnley Belvedere, was drafted when Jordan Gidley failed a late fitness test.

It was the third-successive match since Connor King’s loan spell from Burnley came to an end in which a Town keeper had been making his debut.

Luke Cocker had made his bow in the 4-0 Macron Cup defeat by Charnock Richard last Tuesday, when Gidley was ineligible.

Four days earlier, Gidley had made his first appearance since returning to the club in the 3-2 Premier Division loss at Runcorn Town.

No doubt manager Danny Craig will be hoping that the goalkeeping situation settles down in the coming weeks.

Garnett didn’t have much to do in the early stages and nor did his counterpart in the Northwich goal.

All that changed in the final ten minutes of the half when Town went ahead and both sides had players sent off.

The home side went ahead when winger Joel Melia played a great ball to Zack Dale on the edge of the penalty area.

Dale got his shot away just as Daniel Johnson tried to make a block. Keeper Michael Donlon was beaten but the ball hit the bottom of the post and cannoned across to the far side of the goal where Mark Threlfall slotted home.

Three minutes later the Town defence were caught too far upfield and Liam Blades was shown a straight red card for pulling down a Northwich forward as he raced clear.

Things were evened up in the 41st minute when Daniel Johnson kicked out at a Town player and received his marching orders from referee Mark Reeves.

Northwich managed to level the scores after 53 minutes when Oscar Durnin gave Garnett no chance from close range.

Town bossed the game in the closing stages without getting the winning goal their play deserved.

They had one shot hit a post and another cleared off the line.