Bamber Bridge 1 - 5 Stockton Town
Brig came into the game after a 3-2 loss vs Basford United on Saturday, ending a five-game unbeaten streak, whilst Stockton had quite the opposite scenario after a 3-1 away at Warrington Rylands ended a four-game winless run for the North East based side.
The game started off fairly quiet between the two sides in the opening 10 minutes, then Lucas Weaver turned up the heat as he showed his usual quality, dribbling from his own half all the way to the edge of the Stockton area, laid a ball off for Simon Grand but his pass to Adam Dodd on the left side was too high and resulted in a Stockton throw.
Just two minutes later it was Stockton who opened the scoring after Macauley Wilson slipped over the ball midway through his own half, allowing Roberts to drive through on goal creating a 3 v1 against Kenyon, Roberts slid the ball to the right side of the penalty area for Sweet who took a touch to set himself and drilled a low powerful shot into the bottom left corner.
Things went from bad to worse for Brig as Stockton doubled their lead five minutes later after good play from Stockton in the middle of the pitch allowed Scott to find himself in a 1v1 situation with James Pradic who rushed out of his goal to close the angle, it was a brilliant recovery tackle from Lewis Hey but the ball was unluckily played into the path of Sweet who tapped into an empty net to get his second of the game.
Brig worked to get back into the game from there and just before the half hour mark, it was the main man Weaver who has been in excellent form to pull one back for the Briggers as Jack Baxter played an intricate ball into his path. Weaver didn’t even have to think about the finish as he rolled a low shot into the bottom left corner.
A few minutes later, Brig’s hopes for an equaliser were made difficult as Kenyon lost the ball sloppily in a dangerous area, allowing Roberts to break through on goal in the penalty area and Wilson pulled him back resulting in the referee pointing to the penalty spot, and moments later showing a red card to Wilson for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
Thompson stepped up for Stockton and placed his penalty into the bottom right corner, restoring Stockton’s two goal lead.
Now down to 10 men, things almost turned ugly for Brig in the first half as Butterworth played a great ball in behind the defence towards Baggs who squared the ball across to Scott who tapped home from close range, however the linesman’s flag was raised for offside just before half time.
The half time whistle blew with Stockton leading by three goals to one.
Stockton carried their first half performance into the second, as they hit the post early on after good play through the middle.
The second half was a quiet one for both sides, Brig made their first changes in the 65th minute as Danny Edwards and Jeff Adubofour replaced Chris Churchman and Adam Dodd, aiming to provide more firepower in attack.
The subs made an instant impact after some good play by Brig earned them a corner, it was taken by Michael Potts and could only be cleared away to Weaver who’s volleyed effort was blocked from close range.
More changes were made 10 minutes later as Jarma Mohamed and Billy Hasler-Cregg replaced Jack Baxter and Simon Grand.
The changes this time didn’t have the impact Brig would've wanted as with just 10 minutes to go, Stockton got their fourth of the game after a brilliant pass out of his hands by goalkeeper Nathan Harker put former Brig player Michael Fowler through on goal and he kept his composure to strike past Pradic.
Fowler almost had his second just a minute later, but after finding space on the left side of the penalty area, his low shot went wide of the post.
With the score at 4-1 to the North East based side, the onslaught did not end there as Stockton got their fifth with Michael Fowler heavily involved once again.
The 23-year-old played a ball in behind the brig defence to find the run of Scott, Scott kept his composure and slotted the ball past Pradic.
The full time whistle blew, a 5-1 home defeat is the outcome and the result leaves the Briggers 15th in the table.
Manager Jamie Milligan reflected on the defeat, he said “I thought we started quite well, I thought we started bright and got the ball up more than we normally do early on in a game but then the goals we conceded were just awful.
“We just can’t build any momentum conceding goals like that.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s game at home to FC United of Manchester, Jamie said “I’m expecting a response from the players because for one they weren’t good enough tonight, they know that.
“We just didn’t show enough character tonight all over which is not like them they’re normally bang at it.
“There’s no better game to come in and show a response to how they’ve played tonight because like I've said they weren’t good enough tonight, so with a big crowd on Saturday against a good team, good manager it's a great game to come back to.”
Match reporter Morgan Bennion (@MBennionSjourno)
