Westend Lions Under 12s are getting fed up with draws!

Having shared the points in half of their previous eight games in the RCD Huddersfield Junior League, the Salendine Nook-based Division II side started their game against Brighouse Sports with high hopes but, in the end, they were happy to settle for yet another draw – this time 2-2.

Hayden Webster gave Westend an early warning with a fierce shot from 20 yards that crashed against the bar and rebounded to safety.

Defenders Rohandeep Kullar, Jack Farmer and Josh Jones were forced to work hard as Brighouse piled on the pressure and keeper Alex Carter needed to perform a full-length save to stop Lewis Todd

giving Brighouse the lead after 15 minutes.

Having survived the early onslaught, Harvey Kenningley and Adil Ayub began to make progress through midfield and some excellent wing play from Ali Israr was only stopped by some equally fine defending from Harry Streeting.

Omari Liburd fired his side’s first serious chance of the game (with an angled shot) against the bar and Westend finally took the lead on the half hour mark when the Brighouse defence were

caught square as Israr raced through the middle to drill a shot into the bottom corner.

Westend might have doubled their tally just before the break but keeper Kai Peltier stretched high to stop Lucas Maturine’s chip shot.

Bradley Hall-Crowther and Manav Sandhu took control for Brighouse as the second half got under way, much as they had the first, but this time there was no stopping Hayden Webster’s 15-yard dipping volley which arrived in the back of the Westend net off the underside of the bar (1-1).

Ben Orley, Sam Nixon and Ben Gledhill threatened the Westend goal following excellent support play from Drew Mitchell and Jake Crossley and, after a period of sustained pressure, Brighouse

took the lead with just 15 minutes remaining when Todd was allowed too much space to break through the middle and drill a shot into the bottom corner from 15 yards (1-2).

With both sides having played some thoroughly entertaining end-to-end football, the game was now becoming stretched as tired legs began to take a toll.

Israr, Ayub and Harvey Daniel worked hard to get Westend back in the game but, despite shots from Maturine and Alfie Townend being wide of the mark, their efforts were being converted into corner kicks.

However, Westend’s equaliser arrived when Maturine headed a Townend corner into the top corner to level at 2-2.

A Harvey Kenningley free kick, less than a minute from the end of the game, almost produced a winning goal for Westend but Maturine’s header skimmed off the top of the bar.

Another draw for Westend leaves them in mid table but few would argue that the final score was a fair reflection on an exciting game between two evenly-matched sides who will, no doubt, finish the season somewhere among the promotion places.