With so much rain over the last few days, it was always going to be a difficult surface for both teams but they served up an entertaining encounter throughout. After a slow opening period, Brigg were the first to threaten with an attack down the left wing but this was cleared.
United replied with a free kick awarded just outside the penalty area but David Birch was well-positioned to make a save. The Brigg ‘keeper had to get down low to claim the ball from the next attack. After fifteen minutes, the visitors took the lead when Eddie Wileman raced on to a pass down the left wing before cutting back inside to strike the ball into the far corner of the net from ten yards out.
Brigg spent the next twenty minutes pushing forward and searching for an equaliser whilst their opponents were always seeking chances to counter attack. Steve McCarron levelled the score after forty minutes of play when he seized possession before driving the ball into the back of the net from close range through a crowded penalty area.
Both goalkeepers made good saves in the last five minutes of the half before the teams went into the break with the score at one goal each.
The second half was played in much the same pattern as the first with the visitors looking sharp on the break whilst Brigg enjoyed more possession. However, with twelve minutes remaining, Brigg conceded a free kick from just over the halfway line on United’s right-wing and when the ball was delivered into the penalty area, Gary Lumley was in the right position to punish poor defending to put his team in front again.
In a frantic finish to the game into time added on for some lengthy injuries, Brigg scored again. A strike from Jon Oglesby had struck the bottom of the goal post to rebound clear. This was followed by another penetrating attack which ended with Jack Richardson firing a low shot into the back of the net from twelve yards out after the ball bounced out of the goal area to him.
From the re-start of the game, Brigg were hoping to get another scoring chance to grab three points but they were immediately caught wide open at the back allowing a ball to be played long over the top into their goal area where an attempted clearance was deflected by a Brigg player into the back of the net to secure a winning goal for the visitors.
This defeat was the second inside four days and the team is hoping for a return to better form in the busy period ahead.