Brighouse Town 0 Warrington Town 0

WARRINGTON Town were held to a goalless draw for the first time in 20 games at Brighouse.

In a game that had an end of season feel to it, neither side could find a breakthrough in what was Town’s first 0-0 draw since the home game with Harrogate on January 10.

Their best chance fell to top scorer Scott Metcalfe in the last minute of the match, but he drilled his volley straight at the goalkeeper after being found at the back post from a right wing cross.

Brighouse came close early on when an awkward bouncing ball in windy conditions caught Karl Wills out of his goal, midfielder Ben Thornton getting to it first and firing an improvised overhead kick goalwards, only to see the covering Tom Hardwick clear it off the line.

Playing in to the wind, the visitors struggled to gain any consistent field position, with strike pairing Stephen Tames and Ben Wharton both restricted to brief sniffs at goal that never culminated in a clear cut opportunity.

The hosts weren’t troubling Wills often either, their only other first half shot of note coming from captain Leon Henry, his long-range shot comfortably saved down to the goalkeeper’s left.

Good work by Ernest Boafo almost gave Brighouse the lead in the opening moments of the second half, his shot right across goal eventually diverted wide by Hardwick.

At the other end, Gerard Kinsella twice went close, first with an instinctive shot that was comfortably saved, and then with a swerving right footed effort that went just over the bar.

On 77 minutes, Wills was called in to action to deny a Boafo header at the back post.

Good work by substitute Anthony Hickey set up another chance for Kinsella, who guided his shot agonisingly wide of the goalkeeper’s left hand post from a pinpoint ball in.

As time ran out, neither side really looked like breaking the deadlock, though Metcalfe perhaps would have expected to do better with his late chance on the full.

Town now have three home games coming up, before ending their league season with a trip to Clitheroe in a fortnight’s time.

The Doodson Sport Cup final, which Town reached with an impressive 3-0 semi-final win over Ilkeston, will take place on April 30 against Farsley at Stockport County’s Edgeley Park.

Brighouse: Giles, Stor, Tolley, Wilson, Hewitt, Thornton, Hall, Hurtley, Boafo, Harris, Henry. Unused subs: Vinent, Brown.

Warrington: Wills, Turner, Hardwick, Kinsella, McCarten (Corrigan), Robinson, Gahgan (Beattie), Burke, Wharton, Tames (Hickey), Metcalfe. Unused subs: Mannix, Bibby.