WITH only one win to show for their efforts this season, Westend Under 16s arrived at Hove Edge hoping to add a second in their Division IV meeting with Brighouse – but they had no answer to Sam O’Brien went down 6-2.

They got off to a bad start when Luke Dalby’s cross was met by an unmarked O’Brien who fired past the helpless keeper from 12 yards to give the home side the lead after just five minutes.

The goal woke the Tigers and they almost found an equaliser when a free-kick found Fehzaan Ibrahim 12 yards from goal, but the striker’s volley flew just wide of the target.

The near miss sparked Westend’s best spell of the game but, despite some good right-wing work from Adam Matteson and Josh Tyndall, they were unable to take advantage.

Another missed chance arrived when Danny Holt crashed a shot towards goal, but a fine save from Aaron Beaumont again denied the visitors.

Westend were then made to pay for their missed opportunities just before half time when O’Brien ran half the length of the field and past three defenders to coolly slot the ball into the bottom corner and make it 2-0 at the break.

Westend defenders Lewis Williams, Ben Crosland, Callum Wrest and Mason Hussain seemed to have got the measure of the Brighouse forward line but, within minutes of the re-start, a terrible mix-up allowed Adam Mallinson to send a perfectly floated chip into the far top corner to leave the Tigers with an uphill battle at 3-0 down.

Danny Holt again threatened to pull one back for Westend but, having survived two crunching tackles, Holt was unable to generate enough power to trouble keeper Beaumont.

The visitors were now struggling to raise their game as Tom Davidson and Dalby took control in midfield for a rampant Brighouse, who were determined to finish the game off as quickly as possible.

O’Brien was back in the thick of things, first providing a cross for Cameron Teale to make it 4-0 and then crashing a shot against the bar before latching onto a half-cleared corner to hit his third from 12 yards (5-0).

For most of the second half defenders Josh Scott, Alex Yates and the outstanding Tom Shepherd had denied the visitors much sight of goal but they failed to deal with Jake Ramsden’s corner allowing Lewis Williams to fire home from close range.

The goal was no more than Westend deserved as they had played a big part in an entertaining game but, despite a late rally by the visitors, Brighouse were in no mood to give the game away and, with the Tigers fully committed to attack, O’Brien found space to hit his fourth of the game to restore Brighouse’s five-goal lead at 6-1.

But Westend were not to be denied some glory and Adam Matteson produced a brilliant run past three defenders on the right only to be sent crashing to the ground by a clumsy challenge just as he was about to shoot.

Ben Crosland stepped up to convert the penalty to restore some pride for Westend. Brighouse fully deserved their win, but the scoreline did not do justice to the part played by Westend.