Brighouse Town blew away the cobwebs after two weeks of inactivity in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division with a 5-1 win at Armthorpe Welfare.

There were no signs of ring rust as Town broke the deadlock in the second minute and then doubled their lead ten minutes later, Tom Matthews with both of the early goals.

Joe Jagger added a third before the half-hour and Town took that 3-0 lead into the break.

Jagger bagged his brace before Tony Hattersley pegged one back for the struggling Doncaster outfit.

An Ernest Boafo strike 18 minutes from time made it 5-1 to wrap up the scoring and rekindled Town’s promotion push. Brighouse moved up to seventh place but they have seven games in hand on the leaders and trail by 13 points.

Liversedge lurched back into crisis mode with a 4-0 home defeat to mid-table Athersley Recreation.

Joe Thornton scrambled in the only goal of the first half but Dominic Riordan had a good chance to level just before the break, only to drag his effort wide.

Thornton doubled the visitors’ tally midway through the second half and, a minute later, Lee Bennett made it 3-0 with a well-placed 25-yard lob. Bennett also went on to bag a brace.

Sedge enjoyed a 3-0 away win last time out and spokesman John Hewitt said: “It’s a case of one step forward and two back for us at the minute but things will settle down and we go forward again.”

Eccleshill United were inspired by the return of Charlie Flaherty as they won 2-0 at Appleby Frodingham in Division One.

The Eagles would have expected to sweep lowly Appleby to one side a few weeks back but since then they have been struggling with a threadbare squad.

They boosted their resources by re-signing Flaherty from Albion Sports and it took him just two minutes to set up the first goal for Ryan Jones.

Ishmeal Mills netted in the second half with a good finish after being clean through.