Brighouse Town paid for an indifferent first half performance last Saturday away to Newton Aycliffe, which the Durham side ended up winning 2-1 to go within a point of the play-off places.
In the first fifteen minutes Newton Aycliffe could have been 4-0 up instead of 1-0 to the good, as they hit the crossbar, scooped over with the goal at their mercy and Jamie Hassall made two tremendous outstretched saves before he was beaten on the angle by Kyle Davis who had shook off the attentions of Jorge Sikora.
This was something of a wake up call for Town and they did start through the industrious efforts of Curtis Peters and skills of the returning Jack Wilson to put the home side under some pressure but the final shots were off target.
They did have a great chance from a Josh Grant free kick out on the right to level matters but the also returning Alexander Phillipson from two metres out missed his connection with the ball and it went dead.
Former Bradford City player Wilson was giving home fullback Jack Naylor some grief with his skills and he could have scored twice but ballooned over. Experienced home defender Marc Costello gave Town centre forward Kieron Ceesay no opportunities at all for the former Wakefield player.
Just a minute after the restart Town also had an opportunity to level but the ball went agonisingly wide of a post and two minutes later the home side were two up as Davis got the better of Sikora after a ricochet into the path of the home striker allowed him to bag his brace as he lobbed Hassall.
In the 54th minute Vill Powell made two changes, leading scorer Mo Qasim coming on for Ceesay and Jack Crook for Phillipson and within four minutes Town had pulled a goal back. Myron Gibbons made no mistake with his opportunity from 10 metres out and the Town players went after an equaliser. Peters, Wilson, Darius Smith and Brandon Webster drove forward and there were near misses for Qasim and Wilson.
The home side were a shadow of their first half selves and Town, not helped with a very sticky pitch, did all they could to at least share the points.
Right at the death Crook had a good effort kicked off the line and it just wasn’t to be, Town losing and with other results on the day dropping to 16th place in the table of the East Division’s 20 clubs.
On Saturday, Town entertain Bridlington Town (3pm) who are on the same number of points as Town-29-but are one place above on goal difference. The game is what is defined as a must win one and Town need the three points to distance themselves from the bottom two clubs, Grantham and Winterton who are both on 20 points.
The Seasiders visit just some 10 days since their long serving owner and chairman Peter Smurthwaite put the Hudgell Solicitors Stadium up for sale which has raised a few eyebrows. The game is being sponsored by Chris Anderson Dental from Rastrick and Clare Whitworth from Hebden Bridge.
