Author: Ray McLaughlin

Brighouse Echo Sport – All the latest news from the Heffernan Utilities Stadium by Dave Parker

Brighouse Town have been reprieved in the past week from their relegation in the Northern Premier League East Division after finishing second bottom on goal difference with Bridlington Town. The two vital wins over Consett and Carlton Town under the stewardship of caretaker manager Paul Quinn were vital.
All the new allocations from Step 3 to Step 6 were sent out at 2pm last Friday and there was a great feeling of relief amongst officials and supporters at the Heffernan Utilities Stadium.

New manager Grant Black can now get on with his recruiting and also adding another one or two pre-season friendlies to his growing list, although with ground maintenance they will all be played away from home.

Bradford Park Avenue have been relegated for a second successive season and will be visitors this coming season along with two new clubs from the north east, namely Bishop Auckland from Durham and Heaton Stannington from Tyneside, plus one from the midlands to replace Grantham Town, namely Sherwood Colliery. Grantham have moved into the MPL Midlands League but their neighbours Carlton Town from Nottinghamshire remain in the East Division despite wanting a move.

There will be two new clubs from West Yorkshire, namely Emley and Garforth Town and this makes for 22 clubs in all and 42 fixtures as against 38 last term.

The list of retained players is growing by the day and at the time of going to print Black had nailed down Josh Dacre, Matty Nebard, Myron Gibbons, Jack Normanton, Cameron Bedford, Jamie Allsop, Ezio de Santis, Josh Grant, Ash Butterworth, Sam Drake and Curtis Peters.
He has also added a midfielder in Connor Blunt from Cornish club Mousehole, near Penzance who has played for him before at Belper Town and prior to that with Leeds Utd and Sheffield United. He has returned north to his Huddersfield home after a good run with one of the top three clubs in Cornwall.  
Another friendly has been added to the list of three from last week, with Wombwell away on July 20.

The club are now hoping they can land Bank Holiday derby games with the likes of Bradford PA and Emley if they haven’t already been beaten to it by the likes of Liversedge and Ossett United who knew where they stood for next season well in advance of Town.

INVINCIBLES !!!!

The U17 Oranges finished their junior careers with a crushing 17-2 victory in the U17 cup final with goals from Katie-Mae 5, Vaega 4, Rakiya 3, Lillia 2, Grace, Millie and an Own Goal.

This completed a very successful season for the girls, completing the double for the second year running, after winning the Division one title without dropping a single point.

U15s Girls Oranges: Double, Double Winners

👏
The girls played their last games of the season, a cup final at Bodington Sports Complex, against Rothwell.
Brighouse controlled the game from start to finish and ran out comfortable winners 6-1.
Mia opened the scoring with a “top bins” finish from the edge of the area. Ava scored a fine volley to make it 2-0 at halftime.
Quickly after the break Katie S grabbed her customary goal and Ava added another, following a scramble in the goal mouth.
Brighouse were then awarded a penalty, that was calmly tucked away by Katie S (yes we have 2🤣).
Ella S finished well after a great team move to make the score 6. Rothwell pulled 1 back in the closing minutes, but the game was already done by this time.
The girls were then presented with the trophy and captain Mia, kicked off the afternoon’s celebrations, that continued back at the Brighouse clubhouse.

U15 Play Off final: BTAFC U15s Greens 3 v Holbeck Moor 0.


The U15 greens had to play a deciding game against 2nd places Holbeck due to finishing the season on the same points. (Goal difference and head to head don’t matter)

Great weather for a great occasion, a fantastic start from BTFC opened up chances meaning we could have been 2-0 after 4 mins but couldn’t take our chances. Luckily we got a drop ball 30 yards out to which Elise hit a 1/2 volley straight over the keeper to make it 1-0. The girls continued to add pressure and Emma man marking their main threat out of the game for the second game in a row helped massively. Luckily for us we have a corner specialist and this helped make it 2-0 through Kosh. Town went into half time 2-0 meaning the next goal was huge.
After the break the girls worked the ball well in the baking heat and eventually the ball broke to Emily who did fantastic to get past her defender and curl the ball into the far corner! Town now 3-0 and in total control! Chances after this were few and far between the full time whistle went and for the first time the u15 greens were LEAGUE CHAMPIONS… 🏆🔥
🏆🔥

Brighouse Echo Sport – All the latest news from the Heffernan Utilities Stadium by Dave Parker

Brighouse Town are still awaiting news from the FA confirming they have retained their NPL Division One East status, have appointed a new manager and an assistant to replace Vill Powell
Town chairman Chris Lister moved quickly to snare his No:1 target, Grant Black and his assistant Mick Norbury a former Halifax Town and Doncaster Rovers striker
Black comes to the Heffernan Utilities Stadium following two stints with Ossett Town and then Ossett United after the merger with Ossett Albion
Prior to that he had a successful four year spell with Derbyshire club Belper Town including a promotion into NPL Premier Division
Black has signed a two-year deal with Town and it also has a roll on clause in it should both parties be happy
In the meantime Towns new boss has begun work in shaping a squad and has already fixed up a pre-season friendly away to Worksop town on Saturday July 13
Town with the aid of their stadium sponsors Heffernan Utilities, will be shortly be extending
the length of their pitch at the Quarry end of the ground in time for the new season and to meet with the FA’s ground grading standards that wants the pitch 100 metres in length
The spectator barrier will have to be moved back accordingly and the work is in the capable hands of life vice-president Ray McLaughlin

Brighouse Echo Sport – All the latest news from the Heffernan Utilities Stadium by Dave Parker

Brighouse Town officials are still in a state of flux as the FA ponder over spread sheets with regards a possible reprieve for them and Step 4 Southern League club Thame United.

It is understood the FA will look at Town’s Points Per Game total and that of Thame Utd -the pair of them far superior to all other relegated Step 4 clubs across the country- and then make their decisions next week. 

Already the NCEL social media platforms are not mentioning Brighouse Town as a member next season, only bottom NPL East Division club Winterton Rangers from north Lincolnshire have been named in the new look Premier Division for that League.

Rumours are rife that Town will replace the Teeside club  Marske United who resigned half way through the season but they cannot get any clarification on that from the Northern Premier League chiefs as the matter is entirely in the hands of the FA.

Town’s chairman Chris Lister commented on Monday that he is delighted with the calibre of the applicants for the new managers position, despite the current uncertainty awaiting FA confirmation of a reprieve for Town, and he is hoping to make an announcement soon on his No:1 target for the position accepting the role.

The players were as of April 30 all free agents and whoever comes in will have to build a new squad, which will be a major task.

Off the field the club is also held up pressing ahead for renewing sponsorships and also sorting out early-bird season ticket requests.

Town will not be visiting Hebburn Town next season as they have been promoted as East Division champions and Stockton Town joined them last Saturday as play-off final winners after beating Dunston on penalties after being 3-1 down at one stage.

Bishop Auckland are coming into the East Division and from West Yorkshire champions of the NCEL Premier Emley  and Garforth Town.

Less travelling for Town there should they be saved from the drop.

Tonight (Thursday) there is the last of the Halifax League finals (7.0pm) and then next Tuesday, May 14 (4.0pm) there is the Calderdale Schools U12 final and an hour later the U14 final.

The following day, again at 4pm, the U13 final will take place followed by the U15 final.

Last Thursday Brooksbank beat Trinity Academy 6-3 in the U-16 final.   

    Saturday from 1.30 there is also two finals in the West Yorkshire Fair Play League         

Brighouse echo Sport – all the latest news from the Heffernan Utilities Stadium by Dave Parker

Brighouse Town, despite a workmanlike 2-0 home victory on the last day of the season at home to play-off hopefuls Carlton Town, were officially relegated once they heard Bridlington Town, two points ahead of them, had drawn 1-1 at Consett and then relied on their better goal difference.

Earlier in the day on Saturday following secretary David Parker, following up on word there could be reprieves for Thame United in the south and Brighouse Town on points per game for second from bottom clubs, had communicated with NPL chairman Mark Harris, it was confirmed that was something the FA were looking at doing as they reconstructed divisions at Step 4 level from the English Channel to the border with Scotland.

Town lost out on promotion through this some five years ago after winning at Pontefract Collieries in the Play-off final but were kept down because they had not scored enough points in the regular season.

There have also been several resignations in the season and at the end, with the most prominent being Marske United and Loughborough Dynamoes, while Carlton Town have asked to play in the Central Midlands section next term, and, it is understood Grantham Town would also like to move there from Division One East.

Going into the new week it was certainly fingers crossed for Town officials and their supporters who turned out in numbers for the last game to cheer them on.

Caretaker-manager Paul Quinn would not be drawn into committing himself for next season after the game which saw him gain two vital victories-six vital points-from the remaining five games. He did reveal he was meeting a club official during the week when by then there maybe news of a reprieve.

He has certainly got the players working for him since the departure of Vill Powell and they have played some good football, including last Saturday when a neutral would have thought that Brighouse Town for the most part was the promotion chasing team.

Leading goalscorer Mohammed Qasim opened the scoring for Town in the 14th minute with a 20-yard pile driver. Carlton looked for an immediate response and they had a chance to equalise when a header from skipper Niall Davie went across goal and just inches wide of going in at the far post.

Myron Gibbons had a shot from distance easily saved by Carlton’s former Ghanaian international keeper Felix Annan before, on the half-time whistle, Jack Wilson doubled the lead with a shot into the bottom corner. Town’s players were clapped and cheered off the pitch but they still had a job to do over the next 45 minutes.

Town’s defence coped with anything that came their way in the second half, including Josh Dacre clearing his line with keeper Jamie Hassall stranded, and their attacking force had a goal disallowed for offside which would have put the game to bed.

Almost at the end of the second half Town’s Jack Normanton and Carlton’s Lamin Sisawo-Danso both saw red. Normanton had only been on the field for five minutes.

Back in the dressing rooms Quinn and his assistant Steve Waide thanked the players for their response to their five -match tenure and they were applauded in return.

Town officials will announce when their presentation night will take place. In the meantime there is a busy period of semi-finals and finals taking place.

Today (Thursday) Brooksbank School, Elland will take on Trinity College, Halifax in the Calderdale Schools Final at 4pm and following this game there will be a Halifax & District FA Cup Final at 7pm.