TADCASTER Albion earned their first win in three games to move into the top half of the Evo-Stik League east division.

Billy Whitehouse tapped home in the second half to give the Brewers a 1-0 home win over a determined Loughborough Dynamo and go ninth in the table.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men with the half-time interval approaching as Luke Thorogood was shown a straight red card for an altercation with Lamin Colley.

Taddy have struggled in the past against 10-man sides and it looked as though the pattern would continue until Colley pulled across the face of goal for Whitehouse to convert his third goal of the campaign.

Manager Simon Collins stuck with the same side that were held to a 1-1 draw to Stocksbridge three days previously, with Chris Howarth and Joe Lumsden ruled out in the warm-up.

The first clear-cut opening of the contest came on 22 minutes when Colley teed up Pete Davidson to drive into the penalty box and smashing agonisingly wide of the far post.

Both sides were well organised and refused to give much away, while referee Lewis Dawson was the talk of the half for some questionable decisions.

Colley went close for the hosts as he made a brilliant Cruyff turn away from both Luke Foster and Thorogood before being denied by goalkeeper Charlie Taylor.

In the 39th minute, with the referee already having stopped play due to a head injury sustained by a Loughborough man, before Luke Thorogood appeared to stamp on Lamin Colley when attempting to retrieve the ball back. Following a lengthy discussion with his assistant, a straight red card was shown.

Loughborough sat behind the ball, as expected, in the second half in order to reduce the gaps between defence and midfield, as the vast majority of action was to take place in the visitors’ half.

As Taddy pushed for the opener, Davidson saw a low strike comfortably saved by Taylor and Aiden Savory headed into the keeper's thankful hands from a Whitehouse cross.

Loughborough deserve some credit for their attempts to go forward, though, and they almost got their just reward on 55 minutes when a powerful run and shot from Ryan Robbins forced Ingham into a save.

Manager Collins continued to urge his side to ‘play quick’ and in doing so, intricate touches from Colley and Savory opened the door for Casey Stewart to fire straight down the throat of Taylor.

The breakthrough came on 68 minutes as Colley’s skewed cross rolled kindly into the path of Whitehouse, who could not miss from three yards out.

Tadcaster looked to make absolutely sure of victory but were denied time and again by Taylor.

Colley, attacking Whitehouse’s deep cross, was smothered by the stopper, who went on to make arguably his best save of the night, digging out Stewart’s curling effort.

In the final 10 minutes, a combination of Taylor and the post was enough to deny Stewart's close-range effort, Colley could not stretch to turn in a rebound and Taylor was equal to Davidson's bottom corner-bound volley.

The Brewers did eventually celebrate a second goal in the dying embers when central defender Harry Coates rose highest to meet a Whitehouse corner and thunder an unstoppable header into the back of the net, but it was disallowed for a push in the area.

Elsewhere in the division, 18th-placed Pickering Town were denied three points at early high-fliers Ossett United, who had a late Marko Basic goal to thank for the 2-2 draw.

The Pikes went behind to Adam Porritt's ninth-minute volley, but turned the game around with man-of-the-match Matty Turnbull's header 12 minutes in and Ryan Blott's near-post strike just before half-time.

With just two minutes of normal time remaining, Pickering had the chance for their third win of term ripped from them as Basic fired in from inside a crowded area.