Bridlington Town's win at Pickering hands player-boss Brett Agnew chance to sign off on a high note

The Seasiders put their survival chances in their own hands thanks to a superb 4-1 win at Mill Lane against derby rivals Pickering Town on Easter Monday, the result sending the Pikes down.

This was a massive boost for Brid after their 2-0 home loss against relegation rivals Sheffield FC two days earlier.

After only 16 minutes of this clash, player-boss Agnew was sent off after a challenge on the away team’s keeper Ryan Musselwhite, while skipper Pete Davidson and Sheffield’s Damian McGee were also dismissed for their involvement in the altercation.

Agnew said: “I was delighted with the lads’ performance in the win at Pickering, I am so proud of them especially considering how tired they must have been as they had to play over 75 minutes with nine men just two days earlier.

“It was a very poor game in the first half at Pickering, then seven minutes before the break Lewis Dennison brought their player down for a penalty and they took the lead.

“This seemed to wake our lads up though and we went straight up the other end, and I broke through and was brought down in the box and should have been given a penalty, but the ref only gave a free-kick.

“Nothing came of this free-kick, but we were awarded another for a soft foul on Danny Earl in injury-time, this evened things out for the ref getting the penalty decision wrong.

“Will Annan put in a superb ball and Matty Plummer headed it home at the far post to make it level at the break.”

This then set the scene for a lively second half, with both sides knowing that a win could put them on the brink of beating the drop back into the Northern Counties East League Premier Division.

Agnew added: “A lot of the Pickering play went through Wayne Brooksby as his creativity and experience was crucial for them.

“Ten minutes into the second half there was a scuffle between him and Will Annan and they were both shown the red card, although I think the ref could easily have awarded yellows as it was basically handbags between the duo.

“The sending-off of Brooksby certainly helped us as they lost a leader and their most creative player and we stepped it up a gear and went in front.

“Danny Earl took his two goals very well and it was a great reaction to me having left him out for Sheffield after his poor game v Stockton.”

Davidson’s 80th-minute effort capped the win for Brid, who now have their destiny in their own hands ahead of the final game of the season, at home to Dunston on Saturday afternoon, 3pm kick-off.

The player-boss added: “We could easily have scored a lot more goals at Pickering as we had one that looked like it could have gone over the line another ruled out for offside and also hit the bar and post.

“I could not ask any more of the lads than they have given me in these past two matches.

“On Monday they stuck to the game-plan that Joe and I asked them to use, we had to win at all costs as the game was that important.”

Agnew was still seething at the refereeing decisions made at the 2-0 home win against Sheffield, the red cards that were handed out to himself and Davidson will now rule them out of the crunch match at home to Dunston.

The boss said: “I went in for a strong but honest challenge with their keeper Musselwhite on Saturday and the ref admitted when he first came up to me that he thinks it is a yellow but he needs to check the keeper.

“Mussy had been rubbing his head, and the ref came back to me saying there was a red mark on the keeper’s head so I’m giving you a red card. I said to him we both challenged for the ball but I was nowhere near his head.

“The decision to send me and the other lads off ruined the game and he seemed to be out of his depth, you need a much stronger ref when so much is at stake.”