Brad Holmes Brace Today Against Huddersfield Town B | Vital Football

Brad Holmes Brace Today Against Huddersfield Town B

SaskPool

Vital Football Legend
Josh Koroma returned to footballing action as Huddersfield Town’s B Team were narrowly beaten 2-1 by Blackpool FC at Canalside on Wednesday afternoon.


The winger played a planned 30 minutes as he regained some match fitness after injury has kept him out of action since November 2020.

Blackpool, however, started on the front foot, with Brad Holmes netting an early brace before Matty Daly halved their advantage.

Town improved in the second period but were unable to find the final touch they needed as they fell to a defeat.

A Blackpool side containing several First Team players started the brighter of the two on a balmy afternoon in West Yorkshire.

The away side opened the chances, with Rob Apter forcing a smart save out of Giosue Bellagambi down to his left.

Bellagambi was pressed into action once again moments later, standing firm to block a powerful effort from Nathan Shaw.

A quarter into the fixture, Blackpool continued to enjoy the better of the chances, as Ethan Robson slipped Holmes through on goal, however, the forward dragged his shot wide of the far post.

The Seasiders’ pressure soon paid off as on 16 minutes, they took the lead. Apter made his way infield from the left and aimed for the bottom right, from which Bellagambi made a great parried stop to his left. But Holmes followed up and converted the rebound.

Koroma went close on 18 minutes, seeing a fine half-volley deflect wide off the leg of Jordan Thorniley.

Blackpool doubled their lead on 22 minutes, with Holmes netting a sumptuous second as he cut in from the left and found the bottom corner from just inside the area.

Town halved the deficit just after the half-hour mark. Alex Pritchard picked up the ball on the left and slipped Daly through on goal, where the forward rifled the ball past Stuart Moore.

Former Huddersfield Town loanee James Husband almost created a third for the visitors just before the break. But his drilled cross was plucked out of the air by Bellagambi, to stop Holmes from capitalising.

On the hour mark, Daly went close to scoring a brace, as he side-stepped his marker on the edge, but saw his drilled shot held well by Moore.

Town kept pushing for the equaliser and, with 15 minutes remaining, Ben Jackson almost found it. A dangerous cross from the left was misjudged by the goalkeeper, falling to the feet of Jackson. However, Moore recovered to make the block from a powerful effort.

Moments later, Brahima Diarra had two successive opportunities to level proceedings.

Firstly, the midfielder linked up well with Kit Elliott to send a stinging effort towards the upright, but Moore pushed it wide. Diarra then looped a header over from the following corner.

Town should have been level with five minutes remaining. A dangerous low-driven cross from Brodie Spencer was glanced towards goal by Kieran Phillips but was saved by Moore. The ball fell to Daly a mere five yards from goal, however, the ‘keeper managed to throw himself in front of the chance and deflect the ball over the bar.

Despite the loss there were many positives to take from the fixture, as Phillips completed his first 90 minutes since his return from injury, and Koroma getting some valuable game time from the start.
 
🗞 𝚃𝙴𝙰𝙼 𝙽𝙴𝚆𝚂 | S.Moore; Sinclair, Ekpiteta, Thorniley, Husband; Apter, Antwi, Robson, Shaw; Holmes, Trialist.

Subs: McLachlan, Squires, J.Moore, Mariette, Trusty, Bange, Trialist.