BRIGHOUSE TOWN battled well at high-flying Darlington 1883 but two late goals saw the home side edge a close game and go top of the Evo-Stik First Division North.

Town played extremely well and it took an excellent save from Quakers keeper Peter Jameson to prevent Paul Quinn’s men taking an early lead.

In a very even first half, Town keeper Jordan Porter denied Adam Mitchell from a free-kick with another top-drawer save.

Porter was also called on after the break and, when he was finally beaten, by an Armstrong effort, it was cleared off the line.

The home side were struggling to create and made changes. Terry Galbraith came on and his first contribution was a deep corner that Armstrong headed down for Gary Brown to slide home.

Three minutes into stoppage time, Town were on the attack and almost equalised but Danny Hull’s shot was cleared off the line.

The Quakers countered and plunged a knife into Town’s hearts as Armstrong fed David Dawson for their second.

Elsewhere, in the Toolstation Northern Counties East Premier Division, THACKLEY emerged from their unwanted mid-season winter break, only to suffer a heavy defeat at Handsworth Parramore.

The Dennyboys had not played since December 2 following two postponements and an unkind fixture computer at the League’s headquarters. The impromptu break did them no favours as they went down 5-1 at ninth-placed Handsworth.

It took the home side just 15 minutes to break through Thackley’s defence and they struck midway through the half and again on the stroke of half-time, Lee Whittington, Luke Fletcher and Sam Smith on target.

The Dennyboys held out until the last ten minutes but Smith added his second and Bruno Holden netted two minutes from time before Nick McNally snatched a last-minute consolation for the visitors.

In Division One, there was a defeat on the road for ECCLESHILL UNITED as they went down to a surprise 4-0 loss at struggling Rossington Main.

Ben Clark opened the scoring in the 20th minute and Shaun Pendleton added a penalty just before half-time.

Lee Holmes hit Rossington’s third on the hour mark and Clark netted his second six minutes from time.