The Colls saw a point snatched from their grip in the dying embers, as Marske scored in added time to steal all three points. Ponte had defended resolutely for 90 normal time minutes and created a number of good chances themselves.
The first half got off to a scrappy start with Ponte worrying Marske from set pieces, Scott Brown had our first chance of the half as his header from a corner was blocked from close range. Going the other way Marske also posed a threat from set plays and headed narrowly wide on two occasions.
With the half hour mark approaching Spencer Clarke nipped in to steal the ball from the forwards feet, he stepped forward and fired a rasping drive goal-bound, but the keeper stood firm to keep out the effort from 30 yards.
Both sides were looking lively when on the front foot, Marske had a goal ruled out due to an offside flag, before Musselwhite came out to deny a Marske attacker when barring down on goal. Gavin Rothery hit a shot on target from within the box but the keeper held on. A couple of cards were handed out by the officials, as the game began to become a bit more feisty as the game wore on.
Nil a piece at half time, Ponte had defended very well in what appeared to be a change of shape and were still able to get forward in numbers when the chances arose.
Marske had the first real chance of the second half as they had the ball in the net again, however the linesman’s flag was again raised to rule it out for offside. A flurry of yellows came from both sides, Jack Shepherd first for a harsh handball call. Marske’s Mohammed entered the book for a challenge over the top of the ball, before a melee on the fair side saw Jack Lazenby booked for the challenge and the Marske keeper for his reaction.
Another incident occurred for the officials to deal with, Scott Brown tripped his man when on the break and was rightly booked for this. However the Marske man reacted angrily and seemed to shove Scott Brown in the throat, luckily escaping a red card and only seeing yellow.
As the game enter the latter stages both sides pushed for a winner. Ryan Musselwhite was forced to make a couple of saves, before a huge chance for us to score a winner. Scott Smith did brilliantly down the left hand side to jink passed two challenges on the byline and found Joao Rangel, but he snatched at his chance and fired over. Fabian Bailey almost squeezed a shot in from distance, only for the keeper to tip around the post.
We headed into injury time with Marske winning back to back corners, the second of which led to the late sucker-punch. The ball was cleared to the edge of the area to the Marske midfielder who dummied a shot on goal twice, before dinking the ball up and over bodies to the back post where Matty Tymon headed in on the goal-line.
Devastation for Ponte who didn’t have time to get back into the game. A huge blow as we had more than played our part in a great battle in the North East. On another day we could have taken three points let alone one!
We now go into a big West Yorkshire Derby this weekend where we travel to Yorkshire Amateurs.
Markse United Team;
Pontefract Collieries Team;
Attendance 440.