Brighouse Town manager Paul Quinn was delighted with his side’s 2-1 win over Radcliffe in their first ever Evo Stik Division One North fixture
Paul Quinn was delighted as Brighouse Town began life in the Evo Stik Division One North with a 2-1 win over Radcliffe Borough at St Giles Road.
Tom Matthews and full-back Adam Field got the goals for the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division champions in front of 207 people.
Predatory striker Matthews, who has been a vital player for Brighouse in recent years, skill-fully took on three Radcliffe players before slotting home for the opening goal on 16 minutes.
Field then pounced on the loose ball to score and Town would not be denied an opening day victory, despite Chris Mason’s late converted penalty for Radcliffe.
Quinn told Non League Yorkshire: “It was a good win.
“It was a typical opening day fixture as it was a scrappy affair, but we were delighted to get off to a winning start.
“Like I said to the lads after, we have to adapt to the league and hopefully we can improve as the games go on.
“I felt we should have killed it.
“At 2-0 it always precarious. Jason Price had a good chance and there were a couple of other opportunities.
“We restricted them to long range efforts.
“It was disappointing to concede a late goal because it made for a nervous last few minutes, but we worked hard.
“We didn’t put too much importance on it (winning) to the lads as it may take us a few weeks to find our feet.
“We were more interested in getting a good performance yesterday and we were pleased we won.
“The first goal was important because we looked a bit tentative in the first 15 minutes.
“Once we got the first one, we looked good. It’s a great confidence for the lads in that we have got that first win and we can go to Ossett Albion with a little more confidence.”
Adam Field scored Brighouse Town’s second goal in their 2-1 win over Radcliffe Borough
Brighouse have come a long way as a club in a short space of time.
Only seven years ago Brighouse were a West Riding County Amateur team and now Quinn’s men find themselves playing in the same league as former league clubs Darlington 1883 and Scarborough Athletic.
Whilst reflecting on the historic day yesterday, Quinn admitted that he hoped his side can do well.
“It was a massive day because of the amount of work that has gone in from the committee,” he said.
“Everyone at the club deserves to be where we’re at and we want to make the most of it and win as many games as possibly can.
“We will have to see how things go after the first ten games. We’re not setting any targets, but we want to do as well as we possibly can.
“People will be looking at our early results to see how we get on and see if we can manage in this league.
“I’m confident we can do and we showed enough yesterday that we have enough about us.
“We didn’t play well, but we won the game.
“We did that a lot last year and that’s what won us the league. If we can carry on those sorts of habits then we will have a good chance of finishing where we want to finish.”
His team don’t have long until the next match.
Brighouse will visit Ossett Albion on Tuesday night and Quinn won’t be changing his side’s swashbuckling style of football.
“I went to watch Ossett in a friendly last week and they have certainly improved from last season,” he said.
“We’re expecting a difficult game and with it being early days in their season, they will be hoping to open their home campaign with a win.
“It’s going to be tough local derby, but we’re looking forward to it.
“We’ve got that win under our belts and that bit of confidence.
“I’m not going to change the style of play for Tuesday. We have players who want the ball and want to get into the final third and get past people.
“I think we would be foolish to start tinkering with that now. We are going to play to our strengths.
“There is things we will have to do differently when we haven’t got the ball and we have talked about that.”
Brighouse Town: Giles, Field, Fisher, Wilson, Hurtley, Thornton, Hall (Jagger 83), Naidole, Boafo (Clarke-Adams 71), Matthews (Price 62), Henry. Subs unused: Bower, Charlton.
Radcliffe Borough: Cheetham, Wedge (Livesy 83), Lambert, Lafferty, Mullineux, Howell, Hindle (Rokka 55), White (Hulme 67), Mason, Burey, Grimshaw.