By Ben Edwards
Bridlington Town’s New Years Day fixture will see them travel to local rivals North Ferriby in the Northern Premier League East Division.
The Seasiders will be hoping for three points to start the year, which will taste all the sweeter coming against a fellow East Yorkshire side, to hopefully kick start a more positive second half of the season.
Bridlington’s Boxing Day clash against Grimsby Borough was abandoned just after the hour mark, due to the foggy conditions.
The referee brought both sets of players off just after the second half got underway, to try and give the fog a chance to lift. However, visibility did not improve and he was left with no choice but to call the game off.
Denny Ingram said: “I can’t have any qualms about the game being called off. It (the fog) came in very badly, and you couldn’t see.
“The linesman, at best, was guessing, and it’s not fair on him because his decision could be crucial for one of us.”
On the performance, Ingram added: “I thought in the first 10/15 minutes they caused us quite a few problems with a diamond in midfield. Very quickly, we sorted that out and nullified that. Then I thought for the last 15/20 minutes of the first half I thought we were on top.”
Prior to the Grimsby abandonment, the Seasiders were on a four-game losing streak, which has seen them fall to 21st, just one place above bottom of the table, to which Ingram commented: “For the last four games, we’ve competed, without getting any reward.”
Wednesday’s opponents North Ferriby have had a good first half of the campaign, occupying sixth position, only outside of the playoffs on goal difference.
They had a tough test on Boxing Day against league-leaders Cleethorpes Town, falling to a 2-1 defeat, despite former Bridlington Town player Lewis Dennison scoring a second half equaliser.
He’s not the only former Seasiders to feature for North Ferriby, and be set to play against his former club when the two sides meet, as left-back Jack Walters also plays for the Villagers.
The reverse fixture was played back in August, where three first half goals saw North Ferriby pick up a 3-0 victory at the Mounting Systems Stadium. It proved to be Adrian Costello’s last game as manager, with Ingram subsequently taking over.
That being said, Bridlington did pick up a couple of 2-1 wins over North Ferriby back in April. After beating them in the home fixture in the league, they faced each other again weeks later in the East Riding Senior Cup final at the Dransfield Stadium, thanks to a Dennison brace, including an outstanding last-minute free kick to win the game.
Despite that, North Ferriby did taste victory against the Seasiders earlier in the season, winning 3-1 on home soil on Boxing Day 2023.
