GLS Football

Saturday 3^rd January 2004

Unibond Division One

Bridlington Town 2 (2)(Palmer 25. Thacker pen 30)

Kidsgrove Athletic 1 (0)(Peet 74)

Att: 189

Referee: Ron McNaughton

Sponsor: Ideal Building Systems

The home side had the first chance with a corner but Kidsgrove broke giving Wild a long range chance. Bridlington had their next opportunity from a free kick on the left hand side. Kidsgrove keeper Cherry fumbled but quickly regathered. The visitors threatened from a free kick but Baker cleared bravely. A long clearance from Cherry saw Huckerby play Wild wide, but Bridlington collected to attack themselves. Ingram flicked on for Palmer but the offside flag halted his progress. A foul on Harrison 30 yards out saw Thacker lift in the free kick but again Kidsgrove cleared and attacked through Twigg and Huckerby before Heath cleared. Bridlington attacked through the middle. Thacker took a kindly bounce off the referee and fed Paul Palmer. Palmer superbly controlled to turned his marker on the edge of the box to slam the ball home past Cherry to open the scoring on 25 mins. Palmer and Ingram worked on the left, Burdick laid the ball into the path of Harrison but he was brought down by Alexander for a penalty. Martin Thacker sent Cherry the wrong way to make it 2 – 0 on 30 mins. Kidsgrove pressed with a ball through to Huckerby but he was fouled. A quick free kick didn’t work and Bridlington cleared. Kidsgrove had a deep throw on their left but Bridlington broke with Shaun Baker to work back to the other end with half time approaching. A long ball through the middle just evaded Robinson and Kidsgrove’s Wild collected to shoot from just outside the box but his effort curled wide. A neat flowing move saw Bridlington players all looking to shoot but a deflection gave a corner. A second corner followed but the home side couldn’t add to their tally.

Town almost had an early chance when Thomas stumbled in his own box, then Burdick broke down the right as the home side kept the pressure on. As Bridlington attacked down the left Harrison was fouled and needed treatment. Cherry punched the free kick clear and Twigg lumped the ball up field. On the hour mark As Steve Heath charged over the half way line he was synically felled by Tucker who earned a yellow card. From the kick the play switched to the left, Palmer lifted the ball back to the other side where Harrison, unmarked, saw his shot come back off the post. After a brief spell of pressure from Kidsgrove Harrison and Drayton both showed neat skills to send the ball back into the visitors half. Kidsgrove attacked and Eyre tore in for the overlap but Kelly Saved well and the home defence cleared for a corner. From the corner Chris Peet fired home to make it 2 – 1 on 74 mins. Bridlington pressured, Harrison uunable to find space for a shot then Drayton being well marshalled by the Kidsgrove defence. Tucker found space on the right to cross for Wild but he looped his shot and Kelly gathered easily. Eyre was next to try from the right but again Kelly gathered with ten minutes remaining. Bridlington then put together another neat move that saw Dave Ingram fire just over with five minutes remaining. Thacker lifted a free kick in for Drayton to head that brought a diving save from Cherry. A through ball for Bridlington found Palmer but the defender got back to block as Palmer shot with time running out.

Bridlington Town Man of the Match Sponsored by GLS: Shaun Baker

Bridlington Town: 1.Gavin Kelly, 2.Andy Thompson, 3.Steve Robinson, 4.Shaun Baker, 5.Craig Suddaby, 6.Steve Heath, 7.Craig Burdick (Drayton 61), 8.Martin Thacker, 9.Paul Palmer, 10.Phil Harrison (Taylor 85), 11.Dave Ingram, 12.Danny Drayton, 14.Andy Taylor, 15.Stuart Baldwin.

Kidsgrove: 1.Steve Cherry, 2.Adrian Greatrex (Byrne 61), 3.Richard Eyre, 4.Andy Thomas, 5.Tim Alexander (Peet 65), 6.Danny Jellicoe, 7.Ryan Baker, 8.Peter Wild, 9.Darren Twigg, 10.Scott Huckerby (Tucker 45), 11.Glyn Hancock, 12.Chris Peet, 14.Simon Tucker, 15.James Byrne.