Match Report- 24/04/2010 v Brighouse (Home)

After a hugely successful last couple of months, Wyke found
themselves pitched against their toughest opposition for a while, against high
flying second place Brighouse.


Brighouse ended Wyke’s unbeaten 9 game run, cruising to a
6-2 victory.


It was a gritty opening ten minutes, with Wyke having a
couple of chances, Connor Rhodes had a shot saved off the line in the first
minute, then seconds later Joe McLoughlin cleared one off the line at the other
side of the pitch.


Wyke nearly opened the scoring when Mikey’s Shot was
volleyed over the bar from close range by Quinn
Riley, and Mikey Brooksbank’s freekick into the bottom corner was turned
around the pitch by the Brighouse keeper.


Brighouse did look strong when attacking, and they were
close to taking the lead, but Scott Morris did well to get back and pressure
the striker into putting the ball wide.


After 12 minutes, Brighouse had started to look the stronger
team, and were denied the opener from a great save from Joe Couble. However a
minute later they took the lead, when
the Brighouse midfielder fired a rocket of a shot into the top corner from
30 yards...Brighouse 1-0.


Two minutes later, things went from bad to worse for Wyke,
when poor defending led to a second goal.


Wyke continued to try and breach the Brighouse defence, but they
were proving to be impenetrable. Every time the ball came anywhere near the
back four, they were strong and the Wyke attack just couldn’t get anywhere near
the goal.


Defensively Wyke was a little sloppy, and they couldn’t clear
their lines, Scott Morris dropped back twice to defend, and denied Brighouse
further goals. Joe Couble had his work cut, and made some great saves to keep
his team in the lead.


Wyke’s defensive performance did get slightly better for the
last ten minutes of the half, however they conceded a goal just before half
time, meaning Wyke had their work cut out for the second half.


Half Time- Brighouse 3-0


The game went from bad to worse, with only four minutes gone
in the second half, Wyke let another goal slip in and were now trailing 4-0 and
were facing the prospect of a hammering.


However the Wanderers gave themselves a glimmer of hope,
Connor Rhodes crossed into Jack Lamch who cleverly scooped the ball over the
keeper, it was now 4-1.


Wyke were now buoyed by their goal, and they started to put
in a much more positive performance, but their confidence was knocked again
when Brighouse punished them again, scoring again to give them a 5-1 lead and
ending Wyke’s hopes of getting back into the game.


Joe Couble made a couple of good saves in the second half to
save his team from letting any more in.


Nathan Khan latched onto a scrambled ball and smashed into
the net from close range, but it was too late for Wyke, especially when
Brighouse scored a late goal giving them a 6-2 victory.


Goals


Jack Lamch, Nathan Khan





Man of the Match


Joe Couble: Joe pulled off some great saves today. He
was helpless to stop most of the goals today, and was the busiest player on the
team, if it hadn’t been for Joe, the scoreline could have been much bigger.


Manager Comments


It was a bit of a wake up call today! We didn’t play very
well and we were punished, but Brighouse were a very good team, and they give
us a difficult game. It wasn’t a disaster, so we need to forget about it and
move on, don’t forget they are 2^nd in the league! We need to tighten
up at the back, but these are things we can work on in training. Lets make sure
we don’t start a losing streak, by winning tomorrow!