Bridlington Town held to 1-1 draw at home by struggling Newton Aycliffe
Destiny Nnenanya almost claimed victory for Bridlington Town with the final kick of the match but the referee deemed it had not crossed the line as relegation-threatened Newton Aycliffe battled out 1-1 draw at Queensgate.
The Seasiders almost opened the scoring moments into the match, a header from Ahmed Salam fed 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, which ricocheted off Matty Slocombe, and Whelan was first to react by 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 scores after Charlie Dawson squared the ball to Jake Orrell and he scored from close range, leaving the Seasiders number one stranded.
Newton Aycliffe though, 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 begun, 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’s shot from the edge of the box after finding a way past Jonny White was agonisingly over the away team’s crossbar.
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 the 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.
Bridlington Town Head Coach Scott Kerr said: “I’m a little disappointed, 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’s still those things that we need to tighten up on.
"Skipper Tom Allan was suspended, it gave Ben Whelan and Joe Pratley the opportunity to try and form a partnership.
“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 they take the foot off the gas. We did it against Blyth the other week where we got one, we got two, I think today it comes down to cruise control and maybe we thought we’d won the game.
"I thought they weren’t great. We pressed them, had a lot of phases and probably should have got a couple more, but we didn’t and then we concede a goal against the run of play from a free-kick, so a frustrating result today.”