FOR the first part of this match it was as difficult to separate these two teams as it had been in their previous encounter.

By the end there was a sense of folly to that assessment after Farsley found another gear to leave Witton floundering.

The home team, depleted by absences through injury and unavailability, wore a frayed look by the final whistle.

They were given the runaround during a 20-minute spell after the interval that yielded a hat-trick for an unlikely source – the visitors’ marauding left-back Isaac Baldwin.

The result is a heaviest home defeat of the campaign for Carl Macauley’s men, who cannot now finish higher than seventh.

It was not a conceivable outcome based on the opening period.

Albion scored first on 15 minutes when Paul Williams whacked a loose ball in off the crossbar that had been diverted into his path by goalkeeper Kyle Trenerry when he saved Rob Hopley’s header.

When Will Jones teed up Matty Devine, Witton’s own raider from defence, the latter fired wide.

Following their late arrival after being held up in motorway traffic, Farsley’s sluggish start was perhaps no surprise.

They had settled though by the time Luke Parkin, after receiving the ball from Paul Walker, arrowed a low finish out of custodian Calvin Hare’s reach to level on 28 minutes.

Witton remained on the front foot though, and spurned a glorious chance to retake the lead shortly afterwards.

Steve Tames timed his run perfectly to reach Williams’ clipped pass over the away team’s defence, but made a mess of his finish.

His next connection was substantially better, thumping high into the roof of the net after Jones brushed the ball his way, only for a linesman to judge he did so from an offside position.

Farsley, favourites to take the final promotion play-offs place, were transformed after the interval.

It seemed to surprise Albion, who looked suitably stunned when Baldwin arced a shot in off an upright from the corner of the penalty area five minutes after the restart.

Those same defenders were similarly statuesque when he repeated the trick, albeit slightly closer to the target, just five minutes later.

Farsley’s next goal, their third in little more than quarter of an hour, was easily their best.

Walker and Nathan Turner were involved in a sweeping move that ended with Baldwin, drifting inside from the right this time, spearing an emphatic finish past an exposed Hare.

Albion averted greater embarrassment when Nathan Turner’s volley clattered the crossbar, while Michael Wilson’s brilliant block thwarted substitute Cameron Murray.

Witton, jolted, mustered a reaction of sorts.

Wilson’s header from James Foley’s corner was cleared off the line by replacement Kurt Harris, while Trenerry smothered the latter’s shot from close-range after he had swapped passes with Jones.

Farsley mused afterwards that this was among their best performances of the campaign, and it’s easy to see why.

Albion, with fixtures against Stalybridge Celtic and Lancaster City to follow, won’t want to stumble over the finish-line.

Witton | Hare (GK), Gardner, Devine, Wilson, Williams, Foley, Dale, McKenna, Hopley, Jones, Tames Subs not used Bardsley, Amhamed, Humphreys, Neild (GK) Goal Williams 15

Farsley | Trenerry (GK), Lewis Turner, Baldwin (Murray 87), Chris Atkinson, Ellis, Clayton, Ben Atkinson (Harris 63), Nathan Turner, Walker, Cartman (Wells 90), Parkin Subs not used McKibbin (GK), Bett Goals Parkin 28, Baldwin 50, 56, 68

Referee Daniel Issawi

Attendance 163