A goal in each half from Chasetown FC’s young guns saw The Scholars pick up all three points against Brigg Town.
The result also meant Craig Harris’ men kept back-to-back clean sheets in league games for the first time this season.
Chasetown looked confident from their midweek victory over Loughborough Dynamo and even though they were without hat-trick hero Paul Sullivan. His replacement Gary Hay was keen to make up for lost time, starting his first game since mid-January.
Inside the first few minutes, Hay tried his luck from distance but visiting keeper Miles Fenty was equal to the effort, clinging on in front of his body.
An opening goal for The Scholars was no surprise and it came after 12 minutes. Nick Wellecomme raced onto a superb through ball from midfield and as Fenty advanced, he drove a low shot which the Brigg keeper got down well to save but could only push out as far as Lee Butler who slid it right-footed beyond the keeper to net his first goal for the senior side.
The visiting number one was by far the busier keeper and Fenty had to save well to keep out a bullet header from Jack Farmer as the home side took control of the game.
Nick Wellecomme was lively throughout the game and did everything but score, heading narrowly over the bar just before the half-time interval.
Dave Bate drove a shot over narrowly over the bar at the start of the second half as Harris’ men looked to force home their advantage.
It wasn’t a classic game of football but Brigg Town hardly troubled Ryan Price in the Chasetown goal.
Man of the match Butler was substituted to a standing ovation from the home fans, and it was his replacement, another graduate of the Chasetown Scholarship that sealed the three points 11 minutes from time. Wellecomme got his second assist of the afternoon, teeing up Andy Westwood who thumped a shot into the roof of the net from outside the penalty area.
Bate flashed another shot narrowly off target as Chasetown moved into the top half of the league table just four points off the top seven, but 11 shy of the play-off places.
Chasetown: Price, Farmer, Jackson, Slater, Bate, Tesfa Robinson, Butler (Westwood, 75 mins), Bragoli, Wellecomme (Clarke-O’Connell, 89 mins), Hay (Purkiss, 68 mins), Gould. Subs not used: Branch, Teesdale.
Brigg Town: Fenty, Ashton, Dudley, Davies, Hellewell, Fisher, Davis, Dickens, Holden, Grimes, Buttle (Downey, 65 mins). Subs not used: Gee, Flett, Broughton, Zand.
Click below to see more of Dave Birt’s pictures from the game:
