Bridlington Town 1 – 1 Sheffield FC
By Ben Edwards.
Adrian Costello’s first game in charge of Bridlington Town ended in a 1-1 draw against Sheffield FC, thanks to goals in the final ten minutes from both sides.
It was a bright start to the game for the hosts, who looked dangerous through Ali Aydemir on the left flank. He made a run before cutting infield and laying it off to Lewis Dennison, who fired over from close range.
Just a minute later, again Aydemir cut inside from the left, this time he went alone but curled an effort just high of the top right corner.
Sheffield did always look a threat from set pieces, however, as they rose highest from a corner but headed over.
Bridlington continued to create the better chances, though, as the ball fell to Dennison who spun and had his shot well saved by Gary Stevens.
Matt Broadley brought down the rebound well and saw his low cross blocked for a corner. James Williamson met the ball from the corner but fired off target.
Yet again it was corner kicks that were troubling the Bridlington Town defence. Sheffield earned three in a row, before Reece Fielding headed over the crossbar.
Aydemir again had a good chance on the half-hour mark. Nick Hutton picked up the ball on the left, and layed it to Aydemir who forced Stevens into a brilliant reaction save.
From the resulting corner, Hutton again found Williamson, but the header from the edge of the penalty area looped into the keeper’s arms.
Yet another curled effort from Aydemir went over, a minute prior to him playing the ball to Dennison, whose shot was saved. The ball treacled over the line but Broadley couldn’t quite get on the end of it.
Another corner from Sheffield saw Will Sutton forced into a goal-line clearance, before Fielding again headed over from the secondary corner, ending the first half goalless, though the Seasiders were the dominant team.
Striker Luke Hinsley, who had a quiet opening 45 minutes, should have found the breakthrough with a free header five minutes into the second half, but put it wide.
Brid had a spell of pressure on the 55 minute mark, but the game opened up when Sheffield countered with Adam Baskerville squaring the ball to Hinsley free in the middle, but James Hitchcock made a brilliant point-blank save.
Substitute Jack Yates then had an opportunity from a snap-shot after a defensive mix up from Sheffield, but his effort was saved.
The next 20 minutes saw few chances, until the 84th minute when a ball into the box from the left flank was headed home by Hinsley to give the visitors a late lead.
It was a lead that lasted just four minutes though, as star man Will Sutton’s sublime right footed cross was met by Dennison, who headed brilliantly past Stevens to level the game.
There was nearly more late drama when Sheffield had a chance one-on-one, but Hitchcock pulled off a good save with a minute of regular time remaining.
In the second minute of added time, Dennison won a corner on the right hand side. It was whipped in and the ball bobbled around before Yates struck over from the edge of the box.
Just before the final kick of the game, substitute Steven McDonnell was given his marching orders, after being shown a second yellow card due to a challenge on Mackenzie Warne.
The first of two away games in a week sees Bridlington Town travel to Ossett United next on Tuesday 7th February
