Brighouse Town’s home game last Saturday with the form team of the Northern Premier League East Division, Grimsby Borough, ended in a 0-0 draw.
However, with much more clinical finishing, Town should have taken all three points from a scoreline that could have read 5-0!
They had three great chances in the first half and two more in the second period but failed to bury all five chances in the back of the net.
Assistant manager Louis Axcell commented after the game that the finishing was woeful and Town could have been out of sight at half-time.
The performance, although not exactly full of quality football, was far better than the previous week at Grantham, and against a strong side and with a more than decent midfield and back four.
Jack Crook replaced skipper Josh Grant from the Grantham game and he was prominent with Sam Drake and Cameron Bedford in driving forward to get strikers Mo Qasim, Kieron Ceesay and Jack Normanton going in to the heart of the Borough defence.
Leading up to half-time Normanton, who covered some ground, had two good chances of burying the ball in the net, but failed and Qasim had a blistering short saved by keeper Liam Higton. Ceesay, who shows great promise, also had two opportunities but was a little slow in reacting with the ball arriving at his feet and his shots were blocked.
Town keeper Jamie Hassall throughout the game had a quiet afternoon in his goal and you could count the saves he made on one hand.
Brandon Webster was again a lively wing-back as chances were created from the left and later from the right, but Qasim and substitute Ashley Butterworth just could not find the back of the net. Butterworth had a great chance to seal the game with eight minutes left as he came one-on-one with Higton but he fired straight at the keeper.
A valuable point as they head on Saturday to Derbyshire to take on third in the table Belper Town and try and avenge a 2-0 defeat back in October at the Heffernan Utilities Stadium.
A coach leaves the Dusty Miller at 11am.
While Town had a crowd of 286 for the visit of Grimsby, Belper won 2-1 over North Ferriby in front of 726, so there is bound to be plenty of atmosphere to cut through on Saturday.
In the meantime, Town have re-signed centre-back Jorge Sikora on a free transfer after he was made available following the demise of Premier Division Marske United two weeks ago and locally-based and former Town winger Eddie Church has joined Liversedge from Markse.
Sikora was on loan at Town earlier in the season before he was recalled to Markse following Town’s FA Trophy game at Ashton United.
He is ruled out of the Belper game as he still has a match to serve on the a three-game ban.
Former FC Halifax Town, Bradford PA and Brighouse Town wide player Will Callighan has left Town’s squad for FC United of Manchester after not playing a game since November.
Midfielder Jordan Helliwell, who joined Town from Knaresborough Town back in October, has gone on dual registration to Wakefield AFC and joins centre-back Seb Normanton and ex-Town and Bradford PA wideman Alex King at Belle Vue.
Talented ex-Bradford City winger Jack Wilson is, according to Axcell, closing in on a return to the Town line up after being out since September with a leg injury.
Pictured are part of the fantastic group who walked from Ossett to the Heffernan Utilities Stadium to remember Town legend Pete Gill and raise money for the British Heart Foundation. They are pictured with Pete’s son and daughter Joe and Emily centre stage enjoying a well earned drink in “Jimmy’s Bar” in the Clubhouse.
