Late Equaliser Denies Brewers Back To Back Victories

Adam Shaw came off the bench to flick in an 84th minute equaliser for the home side in a match littered with controversial decisions.

Josh Greening (ill) and Josh Barrett (ankle) both missed the match meaning Carl Stewart and Fatlum Ibrahimi were handed places in the starting line-up.

This saw a reshuffle in formation with Miller opting to go with a 4-3-3 with Thirkell dropping back into defence and Rob Youhill joining Stewart and Tom Corner up top.

The Brewers stormed out of the blocks taking the lead after two minutes. Buoyed from his first goal of the season on Tuesday night, Gregg Anderson doubled his tally for the campaign impressively volleying into the back of the net from a teasing Conor Sellars free-kick.

However, less than a minute later and the home side were back on level terms to bring back memories of Trafford away.

Ex-Mossley striker Mike Fish jumped on a loose ball and delicately flicked beyond Chandler Hallwood to respond immediately.

It was fast and frenetic end-to-end action at the Dual Seal Stadium on a gorgeous sunny spring afternoon in Huddersfield and the home side were inches away from taking the lead shortly after ten minutes.

Daniel Grimshaw’s shot-cum-cross was latched onto by Fish but Liam Shepherd worked wonders to block on the line and scramble to safety.

Moments after and the Brewers had an effort of their own hacked out of the six-yard box with Corner coming close to scrambling over the line.

Taddy were playing expansive and free-flowing attacking play and they reaped their rewards taking the lead in the 17th minute courtesy of Conor Sellars.

Sellars was standing out from the rest with his quick-feet and ability on the ball and he put Taddy in front chesting into an empty net after some good hold-up play from Corner and a perfect set-up from Rob Youhill.

Albion were looking incredibly dangerous every time they ventured into Town’s half and Carl Stewart almost got himself on the score sheet with an outrageous strike tipped onto the crossbar by Tommy Taylor.

Taddy did increase their lead six minutes from the half-time break though with top scorer Tom Corner netting his 14th of the campaign.

Conor Sellars’ clearance allowed Tom Corner to chase in behind, beat Sam Hewitt for pace and then trickery before driving through the legs of goalkeeper Taylor.

On a fine afternoon in Yorkshire, the home side really should have gone into the break just a goal behind but Ben Atkinson glanced wide from six yards.

Billy Miller would have undoubtedly asked his side to keep it tight for the first 15-20 minutes of the second half but Brighouse had other ideas as they did in fact reduce the deficit two minutes into the half.

The Brewers lost the ball cheaply on the half-way line which lead to Ben Wharton getting the better of Thirkell and squaring to Tom Haigh to tap in making it 2-3 and game on.

The goal certainly galvanised the home side as Chandler Hallwood had to be at his very best to react rapidly to tip over Fish’s close-range header.

The referee was very popular all game, but not for the right reasons though as the huge moment of controversy came in the 71st minute.

Carl Stewart rounded Tom Taylor and hung up a cross for Tom Corner who headed goalwards but saw his effort cleared with what looked like the arm of Kurt Harris.

It also looked as though the defender was a couple of steps beyond the goal line meaning Corner’s header may well have been in but unfortunately the officials didn’t give anything or felt that they weren’t 100%.

The controversy wasn’t finished there though as eight minutes later another big decision was waved away by the man in the middle.

Former Manchester United midfielder Jono Greening burst from his own half before knocking it past and outpacing Adam Field.

The same player that looked to handle the ball on the line was the same player that looked to bring Greening to the ground after he cut inside Harris.

Again, the referee was unmoved, much to the grievance of the Taddy fans congregated behind the goal.

But with the Brewers still leading, these decisions weren’t going to be costly were they……....were they.

Yes they were to answer that in one word as Brighouse turned it around and equalised six minutes from time.

Substitute Adam Shaw came off the bench to deftly flick in Thomas Dugdale’s free-kick at the front post.

In a grandstand finale; there was one final chance for either side. First of all substitute Fraser Hansen won the ball back on the edge of Brighouse’s penalty area before teeing up Carl Stewart but the striker side-footed narrowly off target.

And then in injury time up the other end Mike Fish steered agonisingly wide of the target with Hallwood rooted to his spot.

The final whistle was blown moments later with the points shared in an entertaining and dramatic encounter.

Full-Time: Brighouse Town 3-3 Tadcaster Albion

Brighouse: Taylor, Harris, Grimshaw (Dugdale 79), Field ©, Hewitt (Baker 64), Pollard, Atkinson, Haigh (Shaw 79), Wharton, Fish, Parkin
Unused: Day, Stead.

Tadcaster: Hallwood, Armstrong, Shepherd, Thirkell, Anderson ©, Ibrahimi, Youhill (Grant 60), Jonathan Greening, Corner, Sellars (Hansen 89), Stewart
Unused: Pohls, Heath.

Att: 245