Warrington Rylands 1-2 Bamber Bridge
It was a cagey start from both teams in the opening quarter of an hour but the first big chance fell to Lucas Weaver who made a great run in behind the Rylands defence, found himself one on one with the goalkeeper, went round him onto his right foot but his shot agonisingly hit the side netting.
Five minutes later it was a barrage of chances for Rylands who put the Brig defence under heaps of pressure. The first chance for them fell to Massanka who chested down a cross inside the penalty area and took his shot quickly low towards the centre of the goal but Pradic pulled off a great save to keep the score at a stalemate.
Thirty seconds later and Rylands squandered a huge chance to take the lead once again, this time Sam Burns found himself one on one with Pradic and his shot was once again saved by the goalkeeper.
Brig had to change something to stop the dominance from Rylands and soon after they changed formation to what looked to be a 3-5-2 set up with Jeff Adubofour slotting in at left centre back whilst Baxter pushed further up the pitch almost as a wide midfielder, with Weaver moving into a central role alongside Molloy.
The change in system paid dividends as just before the half hour mark, Brig opened the scoring after Olly Molloy held the ball up well centrally and moved it onto Weaver on the left side, weaver’s pass put Lewis Hey through on goal on the right side of the penalty area and he took his chance brilliantly with a thumping strike into the roof of the net.
Four minutes later Brig doubled their lead after a free kick from the far side half way line found its way onto the head of Grand on the edge of the penalty area, he cushioned the ball down and it fell to Baxter who took a few touches onto his left foot on the left side edge of the penalty area and drilled a low shot into the bottom right corner to get Brig’s second of the game.
It was Rylands’ turn to have another huge chance to score and once again Massanka was denied by a big save from Pradic, making himself big to close the angle and ultimately force Massanka into squandering the chance for Rylands to get one back.
The game became end to end and less than a minute after Massanka squandered his chance earlier, Weaver stole the ball from Aaron Pickles high up the pitch and found himself one on one with the goalkeeper but his shot went wide.
Brig went into the break leading by two goals to nil.
Brig decided to make two changes at the break, with Jarma Mohamed and Chris Churchman replacing Danny Edwards and Jeff Adubofour.
The second half started similarly to the first with chances for both sides being limited, however just before the hour mark, Rylands got a goal back after an inswinging corner from the far side reached the head of captain James Neild, who found himself unmarked less than five yards out and powered his header into the roof of the net.
After the goal back from Rylands, chances once again became limited for both sides and it seemed there was no real threat or danger to Brig’s one goal lead.
That turned out to be the case as the referee blew his whistle for full time which signalled a third win on the bounce for Brig, moving the team up to tenth in the table, and just four points of the play off spots.
Manager Jamie Milligan had praise for goalkeeper James Pradic after he re-signed for the club on Friday on loan from Preston.
“James Pradic made two really good saves at crucial times and they put us under a lot of pressure.”
Brig's next game is back at the SFC Stadium next Saturday against Mickleover Sports.
Match reporter: Morgan Bennion
