Goals from Lewis Hey and Mark Cullen, either side of an Amar Purbwal header was enough Brig to beat 10-man Hebburn Town at the SFC Stadium.
After coming in from the start in the place of the missing Potts, Hey was brought down by Joseph Walton inside the opening three minutes. A Penalty was awarded for the home side and up-stepped Mark Cullen who crashed an effort past the despairing Kieran Hunter to give Brig the lead, whilst Walton was shown his marching orders for the foul.
Less than ten minutes later Cullen had the ball in the back of the net again as Nathan Pond found the forward in acres of space inside the penalty area – however the linesman flagged for offside with Brig still in the ascendency.
Callum Leigh was booked for bringing down Liam Noble, as the experienced midfielder broke in the centre of the park as Hebburn huffed and puffed to no avail.
Brig were in total control as the 10-men of Hebburn absorbed large spells of possession – with Mark Cullen dropping into midfield at times to help dictate proceedings.
On the half-hour mark Harvey Bardsley produced a fantastic save to deny Noble from 25-yards. However, from the resulting corner Noble found skipper Purbwal whose header deflected into the top corner and past the grounded Bardsley to draw the game level.
Barely a minute later, it was the visitors who had the ball in the back of the net again as Joao Gomez-Carrington latched onto a mistake at the back for Brig and slid the ball past Bardsley. To Brig’s relief the linesman flagged for offside in the build-up to deny the visitors the lead.
Neither side mustered an opportunity in the closing stages of the first half - with a jostle for possession both sides priority to the detriment of goal-mouth action.
Hebburn started the second half how they ended the first – swatting large spells of Brig possession whilst having chances of their own. Teasing deliveries from both flanks gave the Brig defence food for thought on the hour mark – with Chris Churchman producing a fine last-ditch block to deny Aaron Thompson from close range.
Brig responded well as Lewis Hey sliced an effort wide after a hashed clearance from the Hebburn defence and on 68 minutes, Brig finally made all their dominance pay as Mercer guided home a header at the back post to give the home side a deserved lead.
A wonderful delivery from Liam Brockbank – that beat everyone but Mercer, who nodded home his first goal in Brig’s colours.
A lead to defend now for the home side which subsequently forced the visitors to push forward. This opened space in behind the Hebburn defence which Cullen almost took advantage of.
Substitute Billy Bould did superbly well to find Cullen inside the six-yard-area, whose effort was straight at Hunter in the Hebburn goal.
As Brig pushed for the all-important third goal to kill the game off, both sides went hammer and tongue for the last 10 minutes.
With, the game almost at its close – Hebburn mustered one last opportunity as Purbwal skied an effort from close range as the last action of the 90.
A big win for Brig against a side on the cusp of the playoffs and a massive confidence boost for Tuesday, as Macclesfield are the visitors to the SFC Stadium.
Reporter: Ernie Bratherton (@BrathertonE15)
