Pontefract Collieries 'stop the rot' but have to settle for a point against 10-man Brighouse Town

After narrow defeats in their previous two matches Pontefract Collieries were frustrated again when held to a goalless draw by a Brighouse Town team that had to play 35 minutes with 10 men.
Joe Lumsden went close to breaking the deadlock for Pontefract Collieries against Brighouse Town.Joe Lumsden went close to breaking the deadlock for Pontefract Collieries against Brighouse Town.
Joe Lumsden went close to breaking the deadlock for Pontefract Collieries against Brighouse Town.

Despite their numerical advantage, handed to them with Brighouse keeper Brett Souter sent-off for violent conduct, Colls were unable to find their way past their opponents’ stand-in who had to go in goals and were forced to settle for a point in their Pitching In Northern Premier League East game.

They hit the crossbar with a header from a free-kick and had several shots go just past the post, including one from Joe Lumsden from close range with the keeper well beaten, but manager Craig Rouse was happy enough with the draw.

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He said: “It was a game we had to grow into and it took us a while to get to grips with how they were playing and what they were doing.

"The first 20 minutes I think they had their best spell. We tweaked one or two things and then got on top.

“In the second half they’ve had a man sent-off and what happens then is what we’ve done to teams recently, they’ve dropped deeper, they play on the counter, they are more compact and are slowing things down and taking the sting out of the game.

"You can’t fault them for that and we just lacked that bit of quality to open them up. There was no lack of effort or lack of endeavour.

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"Probably the emotion of conceding two late goals in the space of two games made us that little bit anxious not to repeat that and we probably made the wrong decisions once or twice.

“Overall 0-0, it stops the rot, clean sheet and we'll take a point.”

Rouse is pleased with the way his team is shaping up defensively.

He explained: "That's five clean sheets in the last seven so we've obviously got a good platform there.

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"We're pleased with the defensive aspect and we look really solid, we've got to now start working on creating that little bit extra at the other end and being clinical when them chances do come."

Pontefract are on their travels this Saturday when they go to Lincoln United.

"It's a tough trip away and Lincoln are fighting for their lives down there. It's obviously a result we need to pull ourselves away from that end of the table," added Rouse.

"We've built a platform again with a clean sheet and we've got to go there and make sure we've got that same solidity. Hopefully if we create chances like we did (against Brighouse) one of them will fall and we'll take the three points."