Ossett United 0-4 Brighouse Town

Ossett United 0-4 Brighouse Town

Northern Premier League (East Division)

Monday 10th April 2023

A Bank Holiday trip to Ingfield for a West Yorkshire derby that was something of a ‘six-pointer’; a chance to see familiar names in both line-ups, and a game in which Brighouse Town showed ruthlessness at both ends and enormous character to achieve a victory that pretty much secures their safety at Step 4 for next season.

At 2.00pm, I did think there was a danger that this would be a wasted trip considering the six-yard box at one end of the ground was nigh on completely flooded and required more than a bit of fork-work from the groundsman to get it on (just have a look at some of the photos at the bottom of this piece).

Top work from him but in vain - and Ossett’s players might now wish the game had been pulled at the eleventh hour as the scoreline is one that will make them grimace in horror, disgust and sheer frustration at themselves. 

In fairness, Ossett actually looked decent early on as they had a lot of territory, set the tone aggressively - with Alex Peterson and Brad Grayson (great Donny combination) causing quite a few problems up top, and Grant Black’s team even had a penalty appeal waved away as Brighouse were pushed back and spent pretty much the first 20 minutes camped inside their own final third.

That said, the visitors could have gone 1-0 up with their first chance around the half-hour when one of their forwards was allowed the time and space to turn inside the box and ought to have at least hit the target, but instead sent the ball flying into the stand. 

Likewise, Ossett also went within a fraction of taking the lead themselves when a delicious free-kick was sent into the box that skimmed just past two or three players in blue shirts when any slight connection would surely have sent the ball into the back of the net.

And that proved to be a massive miss because who knows just how things might have panned out had the ball gone in and Ossett gone 1-0 up?

Just before half-time, it was Brighouse who made the crucial breakthrough in simple enough fashion when Jack Boyle’s clever chip over the top released Corey Gregory who produced a tidy finish to throw the momentum right in the visitors’ favour.

The timing of that goal, coupled with Fabian Bailey’s injury just a few minutes before which saw Josh Lindley subbed on (initially at right-back but then in midfield for the second half) would have altered the mood and feeling in Ossett’s dressing room at half-time - and things got a whole heap worse almost immediately after the re-start because Brighouse pretty much made it 2-0 straight away with Josh Grant getting in-behind, drifting towards the edge of the box, looking up and hitting a hard and low 20-yard effort past Paul Cooper into the bottom corner.

Already in a strong position, that second goal strengthened Brighouse’s grip and gave them even more confidence that was very visible and with Ossett looking a little dejected and downbeat at this point, the team in green then went and bagged again to make it 3-0. 

There was a shade of good fortune about the third goal as Mo Qasim looked suspiciously offside (and being bang in line with it, I think it was probably offside) as he latched onto a ball over the top and broke clear but with no linesman’s flag forthcoming, Qasim kept his composure, slammed the ball home and now at 3-0, it really was ‘Goodnight Vienna’ as far as Ossett’s chances of getting back into the game were concerned.

Brighouse then threw on Cole Roberts; one of the players who I’ve enjoyed watching the most anywhere at youth level over the past few years, and straight away, the Bradford loanee applied himself excellently and in precisely the sort of manner that I’ve seen him do loads of times before where he’s ripped defences to bits.

Pretty much immediately, he was involved in an attacking situation that could have resulted in something, there was another instance where he was unfortunate to be flagged offside having bent his run to stay onside but the flag still (wrongly) went up and it wasn’t too much of a surprise that he played a part in the goal that made it 4-0 near the end when he charged down Paul Cooper’s intended clearance and would have had a tap-in had the ball not span up in the air when it landed and deceived him with the bounce, before the on-loan Ossett ‘keeper rugby tackled him to the ground in his desperate attempts to prevent the inevitable.

A red card had to happen for the Barnsley loanee ‘keeper, it did, and with Danny South taking the ‘keepers shirt and gloves as Cooper made his way back to the dressing room, there wasn’t anything the defender could do to keep out a hard and low effort by Reon Potts - another familiar face who was at Scunthorpe not that long ago!

So 4-0, what a win for Brighouse, and their players deserve massive credit for how they’ve turned things around because when I looked at the league table about three weeks ago, I thought there was a serious danger they might get roped into trouble.

Nevertheless, in the past seven days, they’ve rallied and proved themselves and shown exactly what they’re capable of when they’re in the mood. 

Beating Shildon was a good start, doing over Grimsby Borough on Saturday was even better, and this walloping of Ossett was the absolute icing on the cake moment they’ve worked hard for. The graft, grit and character was there in this game and the feeling in that dressing room at full-time with the adrenaline rush, music blasting and buzzing emotions of delight and a sense of accomplishment probably contrasted massively to the feeling about this time last week when there might have been a few jitters and nerves. 

I always judge the ‘proper’ strength of a team by its Goal Difference and the fact Brighouse is now on ‘0’ and not -20 or whatever (as is the case of most sides near the bottom) shows they aren’t that bad a team. Every player should be happy with what they’ve contributed and although survival isn’t yet ‘mathematically’ confirmed, I think there’s more chance of me winning the EuroMillions and having a midnight rendezvous with Miss World than the 10+ results (probably more) that would have to go against them at this stage of the season.

Ossett still have work to do to guarantee themselves a spot at this level next term - and this game is one they need to learn from, it must never be repeated, but they can’t dwell in and feel downbeat for too long either.

Any kind of positive result from Saturday’s away game at Worksop (minus Luke Hogg who is suspended) has to be seen as a bonus given the Galactico-like strength of what they’ll come up against for this level, which means their season might rest on something of a ‘showdown’ with Grantham Town on the final day, in order to guarantee themselves safety. That brings pressure with it but I’ll always back my judgements and I know there’s enough in this team to succeed. 

It didn’t happen in this game (and sometimes shit happens that you have to get on with) but resolve and determination was shown at Sheffield last week to secure three MASSIVE points - the polar opposite to this performance. It was shown also in the draw at Consett a few weeks back where Josh Lindley (another top lad) came on and had a blinder. It’s been shown on various other occasions during the season - and as long as there is a BELIEF, spirit and determination which is present, and you get those little slices of luck that you need during a game, anything can be achieved!

Overall though, an enjoyable day out from my own perspective and class to watch so many familiar faces at the same time!

Next Game: Who knows?