Brighouse Town Women return to form with Middlesbrough demolition

Rob Mitchell team’s went into the match on the back of three successive defeats but they never gave their youthful opponents time to settle and blew them away in a dynamic first half performance.

After Storm Dudley, Storm Eunice and Storm Franklin it was a relief to arrive at in the North East to the sight of blue skies, weak sunshine and no wind.

New signing Lucy Sowerby put in a player-of-the-match performance as she made it two league goals in two games after just five minutes when she seized on a long ball from Kayleigh Bamforth to hit a cross-shot beyond the home team’s goalkeeper Rosie Todd.

Ten minutes later it was 2-0. A long kick by goalkeeper Imogen Maguire was flicked on by Sowerby to Drew Greene, who slotted the ball beyond Todd.

Middlesbrough’s young team looked dangerous going forward but Faye Dale’s shot on 26 minutes brought a one-handed save from Maguire.

Todd kept her team in the match but on 32 minutes it was 3-0 when a cross-field pass by Ella Hartley found leading scorer Leah Embley who flicked the ball into the far corner.

On 40 minutes Drew Greene charged down an attempted clearance to slip the ball beyond Todd to make it 4-0.

The only thing missing from the first 45 minutes was a Shauna Legge goal after her header from a corner was well saved by Todd.

Middlesbrough manager Andy Campbell changed the formation in the second half and Brighouse struggled to break them down.

They eventually added a fifth on 60 minutes when Bamforth’s cross found Embley on the far post and she fired into the net.

Mitchell made a flurry of substitutions and Isobel Dean impressed at centre-back with a series of towering headers and interceptions.

The home side thought they’d grabbed a consolation from teenager Felicity Jones on 75 minutes but she was thwarted by a good save from Maguire.

In the closing stages Brighouse almost grabbed a sixth but Darcie Greene was denied by the busy Todd.

After the game Mitchell said: “We did a lot of things right and really dominated the first half. Lucy Sowerby led the line very well and got a goal and an assist.

“It was nice to see Leah Embley and Drew Greene get on the scoresheet and it means we can start looking up the table instead of over our shoulders.

“It was good to get a clean sheet but there were areas of our game we need to improve in. I thought Issy Dean was outstanding when she came on."