Brighouse Town 0 - 1 Askern Villa

Town suffered late agony at the Dual Seal Stadium going down to a goal in the 88th min. This came after Town had peppered the Askern goal in the last quarter of an hour only to be denied the win by some inspired goalkeeping from the Askern ‘keeper.
The opening 15 mins was a fairly low key affair with neither side looking particularly on their game but Askern threatened from a corner which was scrambled off the line by a combination of Ryan Brook and Paul Brown and then Chris Wdowczyk did well to put Naylor under enough pressure to force him to shoot wide.
On 20 mins, Steve Ward had a great chance to give Town the lead when a stray back pass gave him a clear run at goal, unfortunately he chose to check back inside before shooting, giving a defender the chance to get back and win the ball. 10 mins later, Ward showed great skill to drag the ball away from his marker to make room for a shot that went a yard wide.
Town finished the half on top forcing a couple of goalmouth scrambles where the ball didn’t quite drop for them and then a couple of minutes before half-time Wayne Crossley’s curling free-kick from 18yd brought the first of what turned out to be many outstanding saves from the Askern Keeper.
The second half saw Askern start the better, and create a couple of half-chances they couldn’t convert, but the back four of Price, Haigh, Brook and Wdowczyk were coping well with most of what the visitors were throwing at them and by the midway point in the half, Town had gained control of the game again. Steve Ward made a chance for himself with some good footwork but didn’t get hold of his shot properly to trouble the keeper.
The last 15 mins saw Town lay siege to the Askern goal and create chance after chance. A fine run and pass by Wdowczyk found Malcher who had his shot blocked, Damien Melvin who replaced Ward after 70 mins found Crossley but his header was saved. Melvin then had a powerful drive himself saved with Danny Ryan finding Crossley from the follow up but again the keeper saved. Crossley then had a fantastic effort from 25yd but again the keeper tipped the ball over the bar to deny Town.
Crossley did well to shrug off a defender but couldn’t find a colleague with his pull back and then he turned superbly to set up Danny Ryan who narrowly missed the target. Kieran Corley finally managed to beat the inspired keeper but a defender got back to clear the ball off the line. With 2 mins left, Askern hit Town with a sucker punch as they capitalised on a mishit clearance and worked the ball out to Lee Wilkinson who drew Brown off his line and then beat him with a delightful chip.
Town deserved at least a point out of this game, so to end up empty handed was cruel on them. Perhaps Town can take some consolation in the quality of the performance they put in against a team that finished third last season, but in this League all most teams bother about are the points.