Brid Town earn excellent 2-2 draw at home to high-flying Emley
An early second-half goal from Eddie Kettlewell was enough for Bridlington Town as they fought out a 2-2 draw with promotion-chasing Emley to dent their title hopes of closing the gap on Redcar Athletic at the Mounting Systems Stadium.
The visitors had the first real chance of the game, through Harrison Sheppeard, however Bailey Thompson was unable to pounce on the cross.
Despite Bridlington being under pressure it was Ahmed Salam who opened the scoring with a screamer, Ben Farrar with a sublime pass to Salam, who struck a thunderous 25-yardshot into the top left corner leaving the keeper with little chance.
Moments later Salam’s opener was cancelled out as Emley responded, a superb run from Gabriel Johnson, muscling off the challenge from Tom Allan, then with a cross to Chris Dawson, he was able to volley from close range, leaving the Seasiders goalkeeper stranded.
Thompson then put Emley into the lead for the first time, as he sent him through on goal and the number 9 with a neat shot into the bottom corner.
Just on the cusp of half-time, Emley almost extended their lead, a corner fired in to the back right post, however Thompson was unable to find the final touch which marked the final kick of the half.
Five minutes into the second period, the Seasiders equalised from a through ball from Salam to Farrar, with another clever ball played through to Kettlewell he was able to slot his shot into the bottom corner.
Kettlewell almost put the Seasiders back into the lead after a long through-ball from Allan, however the keeper was up to the task to deny him from scoring his brace.
Destiny Nnenanya was short of the target as he was looking to put Brid back into ahead from a shot on the edge of the box, however his effort ricocheted off the crossbar, the ball then landed into Riley Cooper’s path and his shot was cleared by Sheppeard for a corner.
As the game entered the closing stages, the Seasiders thought that they had claimed the spoils, Salam with a cross to Jake Day, he found the back of the net from close range, however the linesman deemed that he was offside.
Meanwhile at the other end, Emley almost had their final say, Laurence Sorhaindo was through on goal, however his shot hit the side netting out for a corner. An entertaining match was played out by both sides with the points shared.
Scott Kerr said: “I’m over the moon, Emley are second in the league, 28 points clear of us.
"I said to the lads at the start, I believe in you, they’re a good side with good players, but from 1 to 16, my lads were phenomenal.
"Their coach said to me at full-time, you’re unlucky, you deserve more than a point and that said everything. We hit the post, we hit the bar, keeper’s made saves, a disallowed goal in the last minute, but I’m proud of them.
“I think the only disappointing thing for us, the goals we conceded were soft. If we want to be up the pushing for promotion, you’ve got to nip them in the bud. I don’t want to pick on too many negatives because we were phenomenal.”