Bamber Bridge 1-2 Morpeth Town AFC
Both teams came into the game in similar runs of form, with Morpeth unbeaten in three while Brig had won the last two matches.
It was a cagey opening period for both teams with neither side being able to carve out an opening.
However, after 20 minutes played, Lucas Weaver sparked the game into life, displaying his talent by lifting the ball over goalkeeper Daniel Langley to grab his 10th goal of the season and put Brig in front.
The Brig goal appeared to inspire Morpeth into finding an equaliser, as five minutes later Nic Bollado found himself through on goal with only Tommy Davis to beat, but his strike went just wide of the far post.
Morpeth kept pushing and one minute later they gave themselves a huge opportunity to get back into the game after Jeff Adubofour brought down William Marshall inside the penalty area.
Referee Nathanael Cox blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty spot.
Luke James stepped up to take and his penalty was struck low into the bottom right corner but Davis saved brilliantly, however Rhys Evans was there to head the ball into the back of the net from the rebound.
So just after the half hour mark, both sides were level but it was Brig who nearly took the lead again after Wallbank floated a pinpoint cross to the back post for Grand with a free header and he came agonisingly close to marking his 750th career match with a goal.
Chances then became limited for both sides and as the teams went into the break, the score remained 1-1.
The second half started how the first ended with chances limited until the final 15 minutes of the game.
Just before the 75th minute, Morpeth substitute Jack Foalle found the back of the net but the assistant referee’s flag was raised for offside.
It was déja-vu for Foalle, as once again he thought he’d put Morpeth in front, but the assistant referee’s flag was raised for offside for a second time in two minutes.
Two minutes from the 90 minute mark, the striker was heavily involved again by latching onto the end of a short pass by Brockbank to find himself with just Davis to beat; he rounded the keeper but his trailing leg caught the striker and a second penalty of the game for Morpeth was given.
It was Foalle who stepped up to take, sending Davis the wrong way, but the ball struck the post and went out for a Brig throw-in in a dramatic last few minutes.
But the drama didn’t stop there as three minutes into added time, Morpeth finally found their winning goal after Josh King headed the ball past the Brig goalkeeper after a dangerous ball from Daniel Barlow.
The full-time whistle blew with Morpeth taking all three points back to the North-East.
Bamber Bridge manager Jamie Milligan said the team “have got to be winning games like that” after today’s defeat.
“We’ve got to be winning games like that and in the first half we should have been out of sight but they’re a good team [Morpeth], they’ve got themselves back in and stayed in the game as long as they could.”
Looking ahead to Brig’s next game vs Matlock away next Saturday, Milligan said that next week’s game will be ‘tough’.
“Yeah that’s gonna be a tough game, we need to work on a few things.
“We’re still sitting alright [in the league table], but we need to go on another little mini run of two or three games really to stay in that pack.”
The defeat leaves Brig in 13th place, with their next game against 19th placed Matlock town away next Saturday.
Match reporter: Morgan Bennion (@MBennionSjourno)
