Brighouse to play Leeds in cup final after win at Altofts

Altofts play two divisions below Brighouse, but there was nothing to separate the two teams in the first half, which finished 0-0.

Brighouse went into the game having scored 85 goals this season, but they couldn’t find a way through a resolute home defence.

Amy Woodruff came closest to breaking the deadlock with a couple of half-chances but she was denied by the Altofts’ goalkeeper.

Altofts sent a shot whistling by goalkeeper Imogen Maguire’s post but that was the closest they came to a goal during the 90 minutes.

Rob Mitchell made a few tactical changes at half-time and his team were 3-0 up inside 10 minutes of the restart.

Danielle Whitham hit a thunderbolt from 35 yards against the crossbar after 47 minutes and Drew Greene knocked in the rebound to open the scoring.

Three minutes later, it was 2-0 when Leah Embley’s effort from the edge of the box struck the right post and fell to Greene again to add her second from close range.

After 55 minutes, right back Kayleigh Bamforth made it 3-0 when she hit a delightful chip beyond the goalkeeper from the edge of the box.

The third goal sparked a raft of substitutions with one of them – Lucy Sowerby – adding a fourth on 70 minutes following a neat interchange with Greene.

The one blot on the day was a nasty looking injury to Ellie White in her first game back from a knee problem, which meant Brighouse had 10 players for the final few minutes.

After the game, Mitchell said the cup clash had been a quintessential game of two halves.

“Credit to Altofts Ladies because they made if very difficult for us to create many chances in the first half,” he said.

“Danielle Whitham was magnificent all game and it was fitting that she should have had the shot which led to our opener.

“We know the final against Leeds United will be a real challenge but we’ve got some big league games first so that will be our immediate focus.”