Brighouse Town FC

Brighouse Town 3-0 Colne Fc

Brighouse Town entertained Fc Colne in their penultimate pre-season friendly, and it was Town who came away with the spoils, and with a comfortable 3-0 win.

The game started brightly enough, with both sides moving the ball around well, but with neither side gaining the upper hand in the early exchanges, the first real action to speak of came in the third minute, when a free kick from Town’s midfielder Craig Smith found striker Lee Burgess, Burgess found himself in-space at the edge of the box, but the young forward failed to trouble the Colne Keeper.
On ten minutes the incident which shaped the rest of the game happened, Town’s Ben Charlesworth went in for a 50-50 in centre field, the referee immediately blew up, and the Colne midfielder was adjudged to of gone in dangerously and recklessly, and was shown a straight red card by the official. Charlesworth due to the injury couldn’t continue, and was replaced by centre half Daryll Leach.
Brighouse now had the extra man and started to dictate the play, the next chance fell to Nicky Boshell, when good work by Nathan Cartman found the wingman in space, but his shot was saved. Boshell was again on target in the 20th minute, when he won possession deep inside the Colne half, but again saw his shot saved by the keeper.
Town were having the better of possession and pressing their opponents, and this pressure finally told in the 24th minute, when Burgess and Cartman forced a mistake from the Colne back four, and Cartman did the rest, the effervescent striker dipped his shoulder to go one way, before going the other, and from 20 yards out, he fired the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
Cartman was again soon in the thick of it, when Smith delivered a 50 yard cross field pass to the striker’s feet, he jinked past one before releasing a thunderbolt of a shot, but the keeper saved well low down to his left.
It wasn’t till the half hour mark that Colne started to get a foothold in the game, but when they did they showed they were a tidy side, and could move the ball around well. Colne now had the lion’s share of possession and were frustrating town by passing and moving the ball around well.
But it was Brighouse who had the next shot in anger, and should of really doubled their lead, fullback David Phelps cut in from the touchline onto his left foot, before crossing to the back post where Cartman found himself free, but the forward saw his header come crashing back of the bar with the keeper beaten, Burgess was quickest to react to the rebound but couldn’t believe his luck when his goal bound effort was clawed round the post by the Colne keeper.
Town’s keeper Lee Ashforth had his first real work of the afternoon just before the interval, when he had to save twice from the same player, Colne’s left back first tested Ashforth from 30 yards out and then from much closer, but the keeper was equal to both. At the interval Town were worthy leaders, with Town’s back four of Phelps, Leach, Mathew Parker and Alex Hallam keeping their opponents at bay.


At the interval keeper Lee Ashforth was replaced by Andy Woods, and the second half started much like the first, and with the second half only a few minutes old, Brighouse almost added a second, from a Boshell corner Leach saw his header cleared of the line, and young centre half Matty Parker pounced on the rebound, but the keeper somehow managed to hold onto his close range effort.
The Colne keeper quickly launched the ball forward and with Town’s defense flat footed the opposing centre forward raced clear but from range failed to test Town’s new keeper Woods.
On 50 minutes Manger Mark Brier then rang the changes, with Graham Marchant replacing Lee Burgess, Ishtaq Hussain replacing Alex Hallam and with Ashley Townsend replacing Mathew Sparkes.
Within a couple of minutes of the changes Brighouse conceded their third penalty in three games, and again true to form Andy Woods dived the right way to save yet another spot kick. In the 55th minute Young Striker Andy Hawker replaced David Phelps and was immediately into the action, the youngster controlled the ball before slipping the ball round the corner to Boshell, who raced clear down the left channel before crossing to Marchant, who placed his left foot shot into the far corner of the net.
On 60 minutes Danny Hull replaced Cartman and new signing Tom Thornton replaced Wayne Crossley. Parker then found Hawker on the halfway line, and the fleet footed forward showed good vision by slipping the ball to Marchant, who in turn found the on rushing Danny Hull, Hull skipped past his marker to find space in the box, but when well placed failed to test the Colne keeper.
Hawker was again the main protagonist when a one-two with Boshell found the latter clear on goal, but Boshell slipped the ball passed the keeper and the wide of the far post. With 70 minutes on the clock Chris Wdowczyk replaced Craig Smith and Matty Sparkes replaced the impressive Parker.
Tom Thornton stamped his authority on the game with a great tackle in midfield, before making a great cross field pass that found Hawker in space, but the forwards shot was saved.
Colne then had their final chances of the game with one shot being blocked at the edge of town’s box, and the rebound was blasted over.
Then with five minutes remaining Marchant got his second and probably the best goal of the game, Wdowcyzk won the ball in the centre circle before bursting forwards, he passed the ball to Marchant before continuing his run into the area, but Marchant had other ideas and finished with aplomb, as he curled the ball from all of 25 yards into the far top right-hand corner of the net, and rightly collected the plaudits from his fellow players.
At the final whistle it was a comprehensive performance from Town with the season fast approaching.

Manager Mark Brier commented after the game “I was pleased with Graham Marchant who got his first and second goals for the club, he’s been getting into good positions without finding the net, but now he’s changed that and hopefully the goals will flow. Nathan Cartman has also given us another option up-front; he took his goal well and was unlucky with the header that came back off the bar. I thought Andy Woods did well again, and we’ve now got three quality keepers at the club with Woodsy, Lee Ashforth and Danny Box, as well as U19’s keeper Sean Cook waiting in the wings, who played regularly for the reserve’s last season”.