Bridlington Town slip to 3-0 loss at Pontefract Collieries

Two changes were made from the 2-2 draw against Brighouse Town, with Ellis Barkworth entering the starting XI after his two goals as a substitute, writes Ben Edwards.

Glen Sani also came back in, with Pete Davidson and Harry Milner making way, and Alex Markham made the bench following his suspension.

Jack Greenhough launched a long throw into the box, the first of many throughout the afternoon, after just three minutes. It was initially dealt with by the Seasiders’ defence, but as the ball was recycled, Adam Haw had a free header, though it was straight at James Hitchcock.

The visitors looked to quickly counter-attack, but Ali Aydemir was offside.

Hitchcock made a good save with his feet, denying a low effort from Connor Smythe on the left-hand side.

The Seasiders had appeals for a penalty on Sani waved away, after a great ball over the top from Barkworth.

Shortly after, they had work to do in the other penalty area, producing two blocks to concede the first corner of the game. The set-piece found Haw on the edge of the box, who laid the ball off to Jack Vann, but the ball bobbled in front of him and he skied it.

Greenhough with another long throw after 19 minutes found central defender Jack Steers, who rose highest but glanced the header wide.

Sani held the ball up well in the penalty area, before playing in Barkworth for Bridlington’s best opportunity of the game, but it was dragged wide of the left post.

A mix-up at the back was almost costly, as Hitchcock was caught in two minds when coming out to gather a loose ball.

Frankie Sinfield dinked the ball over the shot-stopper, but it went across the goalline and away to safety.

The Seasiders first corner of the game saw Andy Norfolk’s outswinger from the right find Lewis Dennison, who headed over the bar.

Two minutes later a Pontefract corner was headed off the line by Tom Algar.

With four minutes to go, Louie Chorlton put a dangerous ball across goal, but nobody was there to meet it.

After multiple warning signs, the hosts did take the lead after 43 minutes, and it came through that long throw.

The Bridlington defence failed to deal with it, and the ball found Haw at the back post, who slammed it home.

After conceding just minutes before the interval, it was 2-0 just four minutes into the second half.

A similar cross from Chorlton to that at the end of the first half, this time it found Sinfield, giving him an open goal to tap the ball into.

It was a second goal in just four minutes for Sinfield, as Hitchcock came to claim the ball from a Greenhough throw-in, though he was unable to connect with it, allowing Sinfield to kill the game, as he converted at the back post to make it 3-0.

After another four minutes, Sinfield looked to bag his hattrick, but Hitchcock produced a good save one-on-one with the left winger.

The Colls looked to counter-attack quickly just after the hour mark, but Chorlton fired over, before a free header at the back post from a corner was also headed over by Pontefract.

With eight minutes remaining, Steers struck the crossbar with a header from yet another Pontefract Collieries corner-kick, though his side were nevertheless able to comfortably see the rest of the league game out, keeping their clean sheet intact.