Bridlington Town (H) – Saturday 24th August 2024

The Opposition - History
Originally formed in 1918 as Bridlington Central United, they joined the Driffield and District Minor League, soon joining the Driffield and District League.
Eventually reaching the East Riding Amateur League, they won this title on five occasions during the 1950s and a couple of East Riding Senior Cup titles.
Changing name to Bridlington Town FC in 1920, they moved to the Yorkshire League Division Two and finished runners-up in their first season, earning promotion.
Life at the level above was tough and they struggled to break in to the top half of the table.
Fast forward to 1960 and a second place finish was good enough for promotion and the following season saw a trip to the FA Cup First Round where they lost out to Bishop Auckland.
A rivalry emerged in the 1960s with Bridlington Trinity, with Town pipping Trinity to the Yorkshire League title in 1967.
The following year Trinity took the title with Town dropping to third.
In 1982 they joined the inaugural season of the Northern Counties East League and spent four seasons in Division One.
In 1987 they were promoted to the Premier Division despite finishing sixth (several teams resigned in the close season).
They enjoyed some good seasons at this level but were forced to fold at the end of the 1993-94 season.
They returned the following season, with local pub team The Greyhound moving to Town's former stadium Queensgate and adopting Bridlington Town as their name.
Recent years have seen promotion to the NPL following success during the Covid interrupted campaigns but last year they narrowly avoided relegation, finishing 18th.

The Opposition - This Season
The Seasiders suffered a disappointing start to the season when they were defeated by Birtley Town in the FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round and they are without a win in the league yet having fallen to defeat at home to Carlton before draws against Brighouse and Liversedge.
They are currently 17th in the table: P 3 W 0 D 2 L 1 F 1 A 2 Pts. 2.
Goalkeeper Seb Malowski, a popular figure during his time at the Raygar Stadium, is currently on loan from Worksop Town and in line to play a part in this fixture.

A journey of just over 100 miles awaits them for this fixture.

Manager Adrian Costello took over in February 2023, having previously held the reigns at Hull City Ladies and has previously coached in Sweden.

Their three goals this season have been shared between Freddie Allen, Michael Coulson and Alex Markham.

The Nailers
Belper enjoyed a great start to the campaign, with a victory at Heaton Stannington followed by a home win against Bradford (Park Avenue) and then Lutterworth Town in the FA Cup.
There was a setback at Emley during the week where mix-ups at the back meant a 1-0 lead was a 2-1 deficit by half-time and the hosts secured the points in injury time.
The Nailers sit third in the table: P 3 W 2 D 0 L 1 F 4 A 4 Pts. 6.

Head to Head
The two sides have met on 16 occasions, all league fixtures.
The first three were all draws in the mid 1980s and it wasn't until meeting number eight that the Nailers enjoyed a victory, Craig Smithurst securing the points.
Belper then lost three of the next four but they have bounced back to win the last four including a 5-1 win at Queensgate last season and a 2-0 victory back at the Raygar, both matches taking place in the early part of the season.
The overall record for Belper reads P 16 W 6 D 4 L 6 F 23 A 22.

Form Guide (all comps)
Belper Town: WWWL
Bridlington Town: LLDD

Team News
Curtis Burrows returns to the squad but Brodie Litchfield will miss out.

Permutations
A win for Belper could return us to the summit but it would require slip-ups by Cleethorpes and Emley; both face tricky away games.
Due to the fledgling nature of the table, a draw or defeat could see the Nailers plummet to mid-table.
Bridlington could in theory finish the day bottom of the table although this is unlikely.
A win is likely to shoot them in to the top half.

Match details
Belper Town vs. Bridlington Town
Northern Premier League Division One East
Saturday, 24th August 2024 - 3:00pm kick off
Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1AN
Tickets: Adults £11, Concessions (under 16 and 60+) £7, Under 11 (with paying adult) £0

Follow the match
Live commentary is available with Chris and Joe on Radio Belper Town - https://radiobelpertown.mixlr.com
Full coverage on X (Twitter). Team news, HT & FT scores on Facebook.
Match reports to follow on the website and in the Non-League Paper.

NPL East fixtures
Belper Town vs. Bridlington Town
Brighouse Town vs. Sheffield
Carlton Town vs. Bishop Auckland
Consett AFC vs. Emley AFC
Grimsby Borough vs. Sherwood Colliery
Liversedge vs. Cleethorpes Town
Newton Aycliffe vs. Ossett United
North Ferriby vs. Heaton Stannington
Pontefract Collieries vs. Garforth Town
Stocksbridge Park Steels vs. Dunston