By Ben Edwards
It’s one of Bridlington Town’s shortest trips of the season on Saturday, taking on Grimsby Borough.
The Seasiders were in East Riding Senior Cup action on Tuesday evening, with a mixed team picking up a 3-0 victory at Queensgate, though
every player was given at least 45 minutes.
Bridlington Town will be back with a Northern Premier League East game with the trip to Bradley Road on Saturday. Last time out in the league, a strong 2nd-placed Hebburn Town narrowly defeated the Seasiders 1-0 at the Hudgell Solicitor Stadium.
Form on the road has been decent for Adrian Costello’s side, having not lost any of their last three away games. After a 3-2 win against Grantham Town, the Seasiders picked up two 1-1 draws on their travels against Newton Aycliffe and then Ossett United. They will be hoping to go one further and make it four away matches unbeaten on Saturday.
Ideally, Bridlington Town will be looking to do more than not lose, but to leave with all three points. It should be a winnable game, with the hosts struggling so far this season, sitting in the relegation zone with just 13 points.
Nevertheless, Costello admitted that his side should “respect every team, but fear nobody”. He also commented on how any side can beat anyone in this division, using the example of losing to Tadcaster Albion and Grantham Town last season despite being on a decent run.
On the flip side, Town picked up draws against last season’s champions Worksop Town, and won against Stockton Town and Stocksbridge Park Steels. This campaign, we were very competitive against a good Hebburn Town side, whilst we swept aside Consett AFC in a 3-0 victory.
In terms of recent form for Grimsby Borough, they picked up four consecutive 2-1 defeats against Winterton Rangers, Hebburn Town, Dunston and Pontefract Collieries, respectively. That was before their most recent game, a 2-0 defeat away to Consett AFC.
They are on a horrible run of form at the moment, having lost six games on the bounce. Their last victory was over two months ago on 7th October, a 4-0 home win against Sheffield FC. Without a doubt, they will be looking to put things right and end the losing streak on Saturday.
It will be the third encounter between Grimsby Borough and Bridlington Town this calendar year, as they faced each other in Grimsby in what was both sides’ first game of 2023 on 2nd January. That ended in a 5-2 victory for Grimsby Borough, with Lewis Dennison netting a brace for the Seasiders.
Grimsby Borough was Bridlington Town’s first home game of this season back in August, where they came back from being 2-0 down thanks to Glen Sani’s extremely late equaliser after Jake Martindale pulled one back in the first half.
