It’s a rare flavour of Friday night football for Bridlington Town, who take on Bradford Park Avenue in the Northern Premier League East Division on Friday, December 13 at the Horsfall Community Stadium, with kick off at 7:45pm.
The fixture will be Bridlington Town’s first encounter on the road since a 2-0 victory over Sherwood Colliery on Saturday, November 9.
The Seasiders last scheduled away game against Consett AFC on Saturday, November 23 was postponed due to the wintery weather, as was their most recent game against Bishop Auckland on Saturday, December 7.
As a result, Denny Ingram’s side were last in action against Emley AFC on Saturday, November 30 against Emley AFC. It was always going to be a tough affair against a side 2nd in the league, who ultimately left East Yorkshire with a 2-0 victory.
Having also lost their previous game against Newton Aycliffe at the Mounting Systems Stadium by the same scoreline, Bridlington will be looking to turn things around, whilst also finding a way to hit the back of the net.
After the Emley game, Ingram said: “At times we were the better side. I’ve just said to the boys in there, it comes down the two boxes.”
“From 18-yard box to 18-yard box we compete,” he added.
In the reverse fixture against Bradford Park Avenue, the Seasiders fell to a 1-0 defeat back in October – another reason they will be aiming to put things right on Friday evening.
As ever in the competitive NPL East division, it will be no easy task as the newly relegated West Yorkshire side will be aiming to bounce straight back into the Premier Division.
Two seasons ago, Bradford Park Avenue were competing in the National League North, though back-to-back relegations now see them playing in the fourth tier of non-league.
Their first half of the 2024/25 campaign has only seen them occupy 8th position, meanwhile the recent defeats for the Seasiders has seen them drop to 16th.
Park Avenue, like Bridlington, go into Friday’s encounter off the back of a defeat, losing 2-1 away from home against Carlton Town. However, they picked up a convincing 4-1 win over Sherwood Colliery the week before.
Prior to the Sherwood victory, Bradford Park Avenue drew 1-1 with promotion contenders Dunston, so consistency seems to be the main problem, having picked up nine wins, five draws and five losses to earn 32 points.
During the past month, Bridlington Town have suffered somewhat of an injury crisis, though they seem to have come through that with Simon Heslop and Tom Allan both returning.
Danny Earl is also expected to return, and the extra week’s break should give him a chance to recover further from the hamstring injury, in order to increase the amount of time he’ll be able to play on Friday.
However, the Seasiders will be without a couple of players through suspension, with Allan and Sam Kay having both accumulated five yellow cards.
