Bridlington Town 1 v 1 Newton Aycliffe
By Alexander Fynn
Destiny Nnenanya almost claimed victory for Bridlington Town in the dying seconds; however, the final kick of the match came to nothing as the referee deemed it had not crossed the line, as relegation-threatened Newton Aycliffe battled out a 1–1 draw at Queensgate.
The Seasiders almost opened the scoring moments into the match. A header from Ahmed Salam fed Destiny Nnenanya through one-on-one; however, Jack Clarkson was able to clear his attempt away for a corner.
Ben Whelan broke the deadlock just inside 15 minutes. A corner whipped in from Olly Green ricocheted off Matty Slocombe, and Whelan was first to react from close range.
Newton Aycliffe came close to equalising from close range. A low, driven shot from Brennan Fitzpatrick could only be pushed away by Alex Baird, although the rebound from Jack Robertson was cleared away by Joe Pratley.
The visitors did level the afternoon’s proceedings after Charlie Dawson squared the ball to Jake Orrell, who scored from close range, leaving the Seasiders’ number one stranded.
Newton Aycliffe then came close to taking the lead after Fitzpatrick’s shot from the edge of the box, but Baird was on hand to deny the visitors.
As the second half began, Green almost restored the Seasiders’ advantage. Salam pulled his pass back towards the number four, but his shot was collected easily by the visitors’ shot-stopper.
The hosts continued to trouble Newton Aycliffe. Nnenanya found a way past Jonny White, but his shot from the edge of the box was agonisingly over the bar.
The Seasiders continued to threaten. A shot from Hamza Hamdosh was spilled by Nathan Fisher; however, the rebound from Nnenanya went wide from close range.
As the game entered the closing stages, Nnenanya almost claimed all three points for the Seasiders. A corner from Olly Green was met by the number 10, but his header was cleared off the line, much to the annoyance of the home team, who believed the ball had crossed the line.
Head Coach Scott Kerr gave his thoughts on the afternoon’s proceedings:
“I’m a little disappointed in the end. We huffed and puffed and pretty much dominated the second half and the game. I’m disappointed with the goal that we conceded — sloppy again — and there are still things that we need to tighten up on. Skipper Tom Allan was suspended, which gave Ben Whelan and Joe Pratley the opportunity to form a partnership, although perhaps they lacked familiarity from not playing together.
“I’ve said to the lads, when you’re 1–0 up — and you see that a lot in football — when you have the lead and then teams concede or take their foot off the gas. We did it against Blyth the other week: we got one, we got two. I think today it comes down to going into cruise control — maybe thinking we’d won the game.
“I thought they weren’t great, to be honest. We pressed them, had a lot of phases, and we probably should have got a couple more, but we didn’t. Then we conceded a goal in the run of play from a free-kick, so it’s a frustrating result today.”
