Brighouse Town Women squander chances to win it in draw at Stoke

Town will be disappointed with the number of chances they squandered, and will no doubt be hoping to bounce back this weekend at home against West Brom.

Town started the game well but only after a scary moment at the back, Shauna Legge mistimed her pass to allow the Stoke striker in, Imogen Maguire did well to deny an early goal. From then on Town took control and began to build a number of good openings. The goal came midway through the half, Darcie Greene flew down the left wing and put in a delightful cross for Monique Watson to score her first goal for the club at the back post.

Stoke reacted well to conceding the goal and took command of the game, Town struggled to get out of their own half and after a number of close chances the home side got their reward. An excellent strike from 25 yards caught Town out to bring the game level just before the break.

A tactical change at half-time saw Sophie John enter the field of play, and her ability to block off the midfield was a key factor in the decision and it proved the right one with Town dominating pretty much from start to finish. Maguire in the Town goal was a spectator in the second period with Town attacking at will, no fewer than five one-on-one chances came and went leaving the Town faithful scratching their heads as to how they weren’t ahead in the contest.

Manager Rob Mitchell was left disappointed but took the positives of another point on the road.

“Of course we are disappointed not to have won the game, especially given the number of chances we created, but that’s football,” he said.

“I would be more concerned if we weren’t creating those chances. Hopefully we can take today as an opportunity to learn and improve in order to move forward. We have definitely transitioned well into what is a difficult league, but we cannot rest on our laurels and we must keep picking up points to retain our place for next season.”

Town have West Brom this Sunday in the league with a big crowd anticipated, and there will be junior teams who will take part in games as well as being mascots from Brighouse Town, Brighouse Juniors, Battyeford Belles and Norristhorpe Panthers. If you would like to join them, it is a 2pm KO at the Yorkshire Payments Stadium, HD6 2PL and prices are £5 for adults and £3 for concessions, children U16 can get in for just £1.