Brighouse Town v Bishop Auckland

Recap

Bishops line up: Catterick, Eckley-Aldsworth, Haase, Fielding, Walker, Bartliff, Gell, Briggs, Holdsworth (Robertson), Greaves, Johnson

Bishops squandered an early lead after a promising first-half performance in sunny West Yorkshire and for successive weekends returned to the North East empty-handed.

Fielding again partnered Walker in the centre of defence with Brown and May still missing through injury and Milburn also dropped to the bench with Eckley-Aldsworth returning at right back.  Greaves was given his first start in the absence of Tymon.

An excellent Louis Johnson goal gave Bishops a good start to the game inside ten minutes when Briggs slipped the ball to the forward and after a quick shuffle of feet, the ball was placed past the home keeper.  The lead lasted only nine minutes as Harris nodded in unchallenged from a left-sided corner kick, Catterick grasping thin air.

Bishops looked the more threatening side from open play and Bartliff guided a deep Holdsworth cross just over the bar within a minute of the equaliser.  Briggs in particular was causing the home defence problems with his direct running and on 28 minutes fired just wide after being set up by Johnson.  The attacking midfielder was brought down right on the edge of the box five minutes before the break but the resulting free-kick struck the wall.

A tight scrappy start to the second half set the tone for a frustrating 45 minutes that eventually saw the home side edge ahead with twenty minutes remaining, Harris grabbing his second of the match when Catterick looked to spill a weak shot into the forwards’ path for an easy tap in.

Greaves worked tirelessly with little reward as Bishops looked to unsettle the Brighouse back line and the only clear chance to level matters came on 88 minutes when Walker headed a Greaves cross just over.  Despite a lot of probing and guile Bishops lacked the extra bit of quality needed, and now must re-group for an FA Trophy match-up against Nantwich in a weeks time.

Match report by Gavin Hadden