Toolstation NCEL Division One
Harrogate Railway 1-2 Brigg Town
Harrogate Railway were victims of a late smash and grab raid as Brigg Town stole all three points at Station View.
Railway only have themselves to blame as a lacklustre second half performance allowed the visitors, who won it with an 84th minute goal, back into it. Mick O’Connell’s side were on course for their first league win of the campaign at half-time as Joe Crosby’s stunner had put them ahead.
The defeat meant they failed to build on the fabulous point from the stalemate with title contenders North Ferriby. The second stanza collapse undid the first half’s good work.
Watching paint dry could be more entertaining than the first 30 minutes, but the deadlock breaker brought some life to the occasion. Railway had perhaps been the best side as this point due to several dangerous attacks.
The ball was played into young Joe Crosby’s feet as the forward stood centrally with his back to goal just inside the penalty area. Crosby spun away from his defender, turned and hit a rasping shot into the top right-hand corner of the clubhouse end goal of Station View.
Fisticuffs followed soon after. Brigg striker Daniel Boulton was involved in an altercation with Railway’s Elliott Holmes during a challenge and should have seen red for his contribution. He escaped with a yellow and then bizarrely needed to be dragged away from the officials at the interval – and once again lucky to avoid a lucky bath.
Brigg – now managed by Marcus Newell, the man who guided Cleethorpes Town to the 2017 FA Vase final at Wembley – came out for the second half extremely fired up. Boulton had one shot blocked by Ally Wilson as Brigg warmed up.
Railway had plenty of chances, but most of them were from long range. To a certain extent, Brigg’s equaliser was fairly out of nothing with 20 minutes to go. Wayne Graves sneaked a low home from 14 yards.
Railway then began to cause problems for themselves. Down their right-hand-side, gaps continually emerged and they were lucky to get away with it when Jamie Osbourne broke clear and somehow placed his seemingly goal-bound shot wide.
Ultimately there were no second chances on the next occasion Brigg were able to exploit the right-side. This time there was a scramble in the box and after failing to clear, despite chances to, Jason Pembleton scored an almost replica of the equaliser.
The home still had opportunities to dramatically level. Sam Newsome went close and the evergreen Mike Morris, playing as a pacy striker, raced clear and was desperately unlucky when Brigg goalkeeper Patrick Shaw made a vital save for his save. That concluded the contest.
What Did They Say?
Harrogate Railway manager Mick O’Connell
“It is beyond belief that we lost that. We said to the lads at half-time that we should have been 4-0 up at half-time, game dead and buried. We said at half-time that 1-0 is an uncertain score-line, we need to get the next goal and keep them on the back-foot. We just haven’t got going at all.
“The more the game went on we didn’t deserve anything from it. We deserved to get beat, despite controlling the whole of the first half and chances we created. In football you get what you deserve and we didn’t work hard enough today.
“We didn’t seem to have that energy and intensity in our performance which we had against Ferriby. We lost too many second balls and we didn’t do the basics well enough.”
The Teams
Harrogate Railway: Hassell, McDaid (captain), Seyffert, Thornton, Wilson, Holmes, Brownlee Greenway, Bromley, Crosby, Prata. Subs: Hardcastle, Morris, Newsome, Clarke, Wilton.
Brigg Town: Shaw, Larn, Heward, Graves, Pembleton, Tierney, Reed, McCarrow, Boulton, Osbourne, Moody. Subs: Newell, Andrew, Lewis, Birch.
Who Was In Charge
Matthew Cottingham (9/10)
How Many Were There
142
Man of the Match
Dan McDaid (Harrogate Railway)