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.
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.
👏 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.
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… 🏆🔥 🏆🔥
We are pleased to confirm, following the FA release of the league structures for steps 1-4 of the National League Structure that we have, as expected, retained our place in the Northern Premier League East.
The crucial final day victory over Carlton Town ensured we had the second-best points per game for the season of all the clubs at Step 4 who finished in a relegation position and therefore have been granted a reprieve from relegation to Step 5. It is ironic that the rules that prevented us getting promoted a few seasons ago have saved us this time.
This now provides the platform for Grant and Mick to continue their recruitment for the forthcoming season.
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
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