Brighouse Town star and Non League Yorkshire’s 2013-14 player of the season Ryan Hall takes on Garforth’s Jassim Alali
Words and pictures by James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson, NonLeagueNorth)
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Brighouse Town chief Paul Quinn was satisfied with his team’s start to their pre-season campaign which began with a 3-2 victory over Garforth Town.
Goals from Jason Price and Dan Naidole gave the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division champions a 2-0 half-time lead.
A mistake 17 seconds into the second half saw Harry Hall pull a goal back for Garforth. Substitute Ernest Boafo restored the home side’s two goal advantage before Joe Hall reduced the arrears late-on.
Quinn said: “I’ve learnt a bit tonight.
“We’re shaping the squad at the moment so we were looking at a couple of people as well trying to get some fitness under the players’ belts.
“There were five or six of potentially the first team squad that weren’t selected or available for tonight so over the next seven days as we have a Huddersfield X1 and Guiseley the squad will start to take shape.
“It was a good workout for both sides as it was a competitive game. I wanted to give 45 minutes to everyone and I did so it was a good exercise for us.
“It was a good test. Garforth have a really good work ethic. They work hard and compete and they play a lot of things that we’ve noticed in the Evo Stik such as playing diagonal balls.”
Brighouse Town manager Paul Quinn and co watch on from the dugout
Veteran striker Jason Price opened the scoring for Brighouse Town in the 3-2 win over Garforth Town
Brighouse are preparing for life in the Evo Stik Division One North for the first time in their history and Quinn has nearly all his title-winning squad at his disposal.
Only Sam Hewitt (to Bradford Park Avenue) has left. Even the veteran striker Price, who played a huge role in their final charge for glory in April, is back and he was a constant thorn in Garforth’s side.
Returning centre-back Rob Pacey did well marking him, but Price’s excellent movement made him a difficult man to track. He had given young goalkeeper Max Newbould a couple of scares before opening the scoring with ten minutes left of the first half.
The local church were sounding loudly and it wasn’t the signal that Germany had invaded, it signalled the start of Brighouse’s quick-fire double strike.
Price latched onto a long ball and brilliantly chested it down and coolly rounded Newbould before finishing.
More was to follow and Naidole found the net with a sweet left-footed effort that flew into the bottom corner.
A mistake from Brighouse stopper Mark Bower allowed Garforth’s Harry Hall to score 17 seconds into the second half
Quinn made the majority of his changes at the interval and substitute goalkeeper Mark Bower will be wishing he had stayed at home after his clanger within seconds of the restart.
His attempted clearance cannoned off youngster Hall and flew into the net.
Fortunately Bower’s bacon was saved as Garforth did not mount a complete comeback.
After the hour, a Ryan Hall corner was latched upon by Boafo and he superbly volleyed the ball home to effectively seal the win.
The other Hall, Joe, gave Garforth hope of snatching a draw late-on, but Brighouse held on to give themselves an excellent start to pre-season.
Brighouse Town: Giles, Field, Fisher, Holt, Gay, Hurtley, Hall, Naidole, McLeod, Price, Charlton. Subs: Matthews, Bower, Boafo, Jagger, Thompson, Allison, Potter.
Garforth Town: Newbould, Thornton, Pacey, Smith, Alali, Ibrahim, Lewis, Wood, H Hall, J Hall, Sutton. Subs: McCarthy, Hunter, Woodger.
Referee: Jason Knowles (West Yorkshire)