Bridlington Town see off North Ferriby to maintain superb start to NPL East season
Bridlington Town welcomed North Ferriby to the Mounting Systems Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday as they made it three wins from three with a 2-0 victory against their local NPL East rivals.
A crowd of 498 cheered on the home side, with a strong away following from the visitors adding to the atmosphere.
First-half goals from Michael Coulson and Ahmed Salam secured the three points for the Seasiders.
A physical match ensued between the two sides for the full 90 minutes, with neither team getting a foothold of the game until the quarter of an hour mark, when Will Annan had a chance from a free-kick to Ahmed Salam, although his first-time effort went wide.
Ferriby responded with a chance of their own when Myron Gibbons went on the counterattack as he squared the ball to Sam Aynsley and went one-on-one with Jonathan Dash, although Jak Whiting was on hand to clear the ball out for a throw-in.
After a reasonably dull first period it was Coulson who broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark for the Seasiders when his attempted cross ricocheted off the inside of the post into the back of the Villagers net, leaving the keeper rooted to his spot,
The visitors were quick to respond and had the home side on the back foot when Aynsley drove to the byline, with a neatly timed pass to Gibbons, but his close-range shot rattled off the post.
On the cusp of half-time, the Seasiders doubled their advantage when Casey Stewart struck straight to the keeper, the Ferriby number 1 spilled the ball, and Salam fired the ball into the back of the net from the rebound.
The second period was a feisty affair with Tom Allan and Annan both receiving yellow cards.
The Villagers had a chance to get themselves back into the match as they were awarded a penalty, Jak Whiting was deemed to have pulled down Aynsley in the area although former Seasiders striker Lewis Dennison had his spot-kick saved superbly by Dash, even with a rebound the Brid keeper was equal to the task.
As the game wore on Brid boss Mike Thompson made his first substitution with Charlie Dunkerley coming off for Joe Batty.
With moments left in the match, Salam came very close to adding a third to the tally when he tried his luck from the edge of the box, but the Ferriby keeper was once again equal to the task.
Thompson said: “I’m happy with the result, we set a target of getting six points out of the weekend after our opening-day victory against Ashington.
"Three points is huge especially in a local derby, cause usually the tensions are high.”
The Seasiders went joint top with Redcar Athletic, Dunston, Grimsby Borough and Bradford Park Avenue.