Boro begin with goalless draw

And manager Steve Kittrick was satisfied with the result, given that his side went into the game minus a number of key personnel.

“To say we had seven players missing, I’m happy enough with a point,” he told the Scarborough News.

“At 9am on Saturday morning we didn’t have a single defender available for selection for one reason or another, so things haven’t worked out too badly in the end.

“Bamber Bridge are a good side and you would expect them to be right up there this season, but we looked strong on the whole, some of our young lads stood up really well and we probably should have won the game in the second half.”

There was not much to choose between the two teams in a scrappy opening half an hour, with both defences on top.

As the first period drew to a close, Bridge began to seize the initiative and home keeper Jordan Porter was forced into a pair of decent stops by Sam Livesey then Adam Dodds.

“We looked good in the first 10-15 minutes but then they got a foothold and got on top because we lost control of midfield,” Kittrick added.

“We addressed that at half-time and changed things around and were better in the second period. We had two great chances to win it, and if players had been a bit more unselfish in front of goal we’d be sat here talking about three points.”

Carl Stewart and substitute Paul Beesley were the men to spurn the two clearest opportunities to earn victory for the Seadogs, but their hopes of securing maximum points suffered a blow in the closing stages when powerhouse striker Benny Igiehon took the gloss off an impressive individual display when he was red-carded.

The former Alfreton Town forward was given his marching orders after pushing a Bridge man in the chest following an off-the-ball incident that was initially missed by the match referee but spotted by one of his assistants.

“I saw Benny sqaure up to the lad, then I turned away. Apparently he just pushed him away, but he’s raised his hands so I’ve no real complaints as long as we see consistency from referees on things like this over the course of the season,” Kittrick added.

“Benny is full of remorse and I’m sure he’ll learn from this.”

A point leaves Kittrick’s men 14th in the league standings after the opening round of fixtures, with a trip to Clitheroe to come on Tuesday evening.

Boro team v Bamber Bridge: Porter, Price, Lamplough, C Bolder, Ormsby, Reynolds, Stewart, Birch, Igiehon, A Bolder, Robinson.

Full match report to follow online and in Thursday’s Scarborough News.