Brighouse 0 Maltby Main 5

Brighouse lost more ground on Premier Division promotion rivals Maltby when the South Yorkshire outfit romped to victory at Town’s Duel Seal Stadium.

Maltby turned in a nap hand, though the figures were slightly massaged as the home side were down to ten men just after the hour and the visitors ran in two goals in the last four minutes.

Maltby got off to a good start by taking the lead through Rob Branagan in the tenth minute following a goalkeeping error. They were 2-0 up before the half-hour after Adam Shepherd had netted.

Town were reduced to ten men with almost half an hour remaining. Nicky Boshell had been shown a yellow card in the first half when the referee felt he had gone down too easily in the area. In the 65th minute there was another penalty appeal, and Boshell was involved in an altercation with a defender which resulted in a second yellow card being brandished.

Town refused to give up on the game and boss Mark Brier shuffled his pack to ensure his side still had a four-man midfield and two strikers. The gamble was necessary but it backfired.

Chris Wood scored Maltby’s third ten minutes later and substitute Danny Jones added two in the closing stages.

Brier said: “I was shocked and appalled by the attitude and commitment of our players. We just did not turn up for the game and I had been drumming into the lads all week that Maltby were no mugs and that’s why they are fourth.

“They are a good side and up there on merit but 5-0 flattered them in this game. It wasn’t that one-sided but the best team won it and I saw an aspect to our play that I haven’t seen in my time here.

“It was our reaction to going 2-0 down, because we moped about and sulked for ten minutes, which isn’t us.

“After Bosh went we switched systems and had a 3-4-2 because I decided to go for it.

“Their substitute, the lad who got two late goals, played well and would have been a handful even if our defence was at full strength. But there are no excuses as we were just sloppy all over the pitch.”