Cleethorpes Town moved up to 3rd place in the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division table with a comfortable 5-0 win against Lincolnshire neighbours Brigg Town at Bradley.

Manager Marcus Newell made one charge to the starting line up which beat Westfields in the FA Vase last Saturday with Brody Robertson replacing the suspended Danny Trott.

Both sides struggled to adapt to the windy conditions in the opening exchanges and there were 8 minutes played before the first meaningful attempt on goal as former Owl Jack Barlow shot narrowly wide from long range for the visitors.

Skipper Darren Hanslip headed a good chance onto the roof of the net before Cleethorpes, playing with the wind in their favour during the first half took full control of the game, scoring four goals without reply before the break. The Owls took the lead with 24 minutes played as Jon Oglesby’s teasing cross struck Brigg captain Anthony Bowsley and went into the bottom corner, leaving Zebras goalkeeper Jody Barford wrong footed to register an unlucky own goal.

Barford came to Brigg’s rescue with 28 minutes played to deny Brody Robertson, diving low to his left to fingertip the ball round the post.
The Owls were not to be denied for long however as Oglesby doubled the lead just three minutes later, beating the Brigg offside trap before rounding Barford to score.

Clee came close again after a lovely move involving Peter Winn and Luke Mascall ended with Marc Cooper’s shot being deflected wide for a corner.

As half time approached the Owls then struck two goals in two minutes to effectively make the points safe before the break. Robertson made the score 3-0 as he latched onto a poor defensive header to fire past Barford before the same player netted again just 60 seconds later, tapping home after Oglesby’s shot was parried by the Brigg goalkeeper.

The visitors noticeably improved after the break and were denied a goal by Cleethorpes stopper Miles Fenty who produced a smart double save to deny Barlow and then Craig Mitchell.

Robertson was denied his hat trick as Barford allowed his shot to trickle under him with the ball rolling just wide of the post, much to the keeper’s relief.

Oglesby saw his speculative shot deflected wide before Mascall was thwarted by the legs of Barford after another nice Cleethorpes move.

Oglesby then somehow blazed over from 10 yards before a rasping drive by substitute Louis Grant went just over.

Brigg responded with efforts from Jamie Coulson and Steve Norton that both went wide before the scoring was completed in the final minute as Brigg scored their second unfortunate own goal of the match as Mitchell tried to block Cooper’s shot but could only steer the ball past Barford and into the net.

Cleethorpes welcome Barton Town Old Boys to Bradley on Wednesday evening in the quarter final of the Lincolnshire FA Senior Trophy before a mouthwatering trip to league leaders Worksop Town next Saturday. Kick off will be at 3pm