TT No.214: Andrew Gallon - Fri 21st March 2008; Garforth Town v Harrogate RA; UniBond Div One North;     Res: 3-2; Att: 156; Admission: £6; Programme: £1.50 (32pp); FGIF Match Rating: ***

It's just like watching Brazil. Well, it has been at Garforth Town since Simon Clifford took ownership of the club. Clifford, once a Leeds schoolteacher and described in the match programme as "charismatic", runs the Brazilian Soccer Schools, has got his team wearing the Brazil strip and hit the national headlines in the recent past when he persuaded former Samba World Cup superstar Socrates to play for the West Yorkshire outfit. Not bad for a team in a former pit village formed as a Sunday League pub side as recently as 1964. Town have been rather quieter - at least in terms of national media headlines - achievers of late but are playing at the highest level of the pyramid in their history and are on course for a third promotion in four seasons. In the last few weeks, they've had the happy knack of picking up vital points with late goals - and this local derby did not prove to be an exception.   Garforth moved into Wheatley Park in 1998 having sold their previous Brierlands Lane ground, on a plot of land virtually next door, for redevelopment. Technically, the Genix Healthcare Stadium, as it has been retitled as part of a sponsorship deal, is in East Garforth and pretty much the last building on the east side of Leeds's urban sprawl. Access is through a small estate of what might loosely be termed executive modern detached homes - the sort where every house has a couple more cars than its drive can handle. There isn't much spare capacity in the club car park, either.   All the facilities at Garforth are on this north side. The main stand, high, narrow and of fawn-coloured brick, is most unusual. The roof, which tilts upwards from its rear third, hovers over the seating tier, a triangular wedge, on metal columns. These, in common with the rest of the exposed steelwork, are painted blue. A glazed companionway, which houses the hospitality area for officials and guests, juts out of the back of the stand and links it to the social club, also a triangular wedge of fawn brick. The visual effect is something akin to a gangway between dock buildings and the hull of an ocean liner. Entry to the plebs' bar is from the north side. This area is light, bright and scattered with mementoes - many of them signed Brazil shirts. The walls of the stairs to the second floor are covered with framed newspaper cuttings celebrating the Socrates episode while the posh bar is given over, for some reason, to souvenirs of Brian Clough and his early days at Nottingham Forest.   This side of the ground is perfectly symmetrical. There is a futuristic metal turnstile, painted blue, on either side of the stand and beyond these on each side, behind high mesh fencing, an artificial five-a-side pitch. A refreshment hatch is hidden away beneath the glazed companionway and, opposite that, a flight of steep steps takes spectators up to the seats, which are blue and yellow plastic tip-up numbers. The view from the back rows is unexpectedly fabulous. To the east, acres of flat, fertile agricultural land guide the eye to the distant cooling towers of the Eggborough and Drax coal-fired power stations. Ahead, to the south,  are the new houses built on the site of the old ground, the rooftops of Garforth village and then more rolling fields before low, tree-fringed hills fill in the horizon. To the right are playing fields and the Cedar Ridge estate lining the access road. The stand may be eyecatching but it fails in its basic function of keeping occupants warm and dry. The exposed rear is an open invitation to the wind and the high, shallow roof equally welcoming to the rain. In front of the stand, flanking the players' tunnel, are paddocks of terracing, each with eight steps. Perspex dugouts are positioned either side of the halfway line. The remainder consists of open hardstanding. There is a metal post and rail fence, painted blue and bedecked with advertising hoardings, round the pitch. The ground perimeter fence is made of wooden planks. The floodlights are masts, with three per side. Wheatley Park is in a spacious, semi-rural setting; pleasant without getting quite as far as exciting.   The game didn't get quite as far as exciting, either, though it was considerably better than I'd any right to expect in yet another howling gale - this one gripping sleet in its teeth. When is the weather going to calm down? Apart from the five goals, it was a scrappy contest with the players engaged in constant battles to tame a ball tossed and turned by the bitter gusts. Garforth's Greg Kelly turned out to be the home hero, scoring twice and having a boot in the other goal. Chris Brown's superbly judged pass from midfield ended with Kelly coolly lobbing keeper Jacob Giles from just outside the box in the sixth minute. Kelly then sent over a free-kick from the right wing and found an unmarked Luis de Melo, who glanced in a sweet header with 35 minutes on the clock.   Garforth's marking was equally suspect three minutes before the break when Aron Heywood stole in at the back post to volley a Scott Ryan cross past Karl Spratt. And Railway were level eight minutes into the second half, Ben Jones fastening on to a loose ball 16 yards out to crack a low drive into the bottom corner. For a time, the visitors, with nothing but pride left to play for in their season, had the upper hand but soon lost their way and the match seemed destined to peter out into a draw. But Kelly had other ideas and netted a stunning winner eight minutes from the end. He seemed to foul a defender near halfway but was allowed to run on and beat two opposition players for speed and skill before slipping a shot past the advancing Giles in a one-on-one. It was a wonderful finish and one of which the great Socrates would have approved wholeheartedly. Just, in fact, like watching Brazil.

contributed on 23/03/08