Hosts Bridlington Town held to 1-1 draw by Northern Premier League East Division relegation rivals Brighouse Town

Hosts Bridlington Town were held to 1-1 draw by Northern Premier League East Division relegation rivals Brighouse Town. Photo by TCF Photography

Bridlington Town were looking to bounce back from three successive defeats but were held to a 1-1 draw by NPL East relegation rivals Brighouse at Queensgate on Tuesday night.

Town boss Mike Thompson said: “Being back at home we set the boys up for a win. Overall it feels like two points dropped. Once we took the lead, we felt like we had control.

"In the second half we had 14 corners and an unbelievable amount of chances to take the game away from them, we feel a little disappointed.”

The first opportunity fell to Town’s Nathan Dyer, who put in a right-footed cross to Danny Earl, who couldn’t quite direct his header on target, writes Alexander Fynn.

However, the hosts felt they should have been awarded a penalty as Pete Davidson was bought down by Brighouse captain Jack Harrison but the referee waved away the appeal.

The Seasiders were awarded a free-kick and from a neat passage of play Davidson passed the ball to Charlie Winfield, who put in a neat through-ball to Coulson who did well to find space and slotted his right footed shot into the bottom corner.

The Seasiders were almost 2-0 up shortly after as Winfield fired shot from the edge of the box, but 18-year-old Brighouse stopper Shea Callister pulled off a brilliant one-handed save.

The celebrations for Brid didn’t last long as Akeel Francis equalised for Brighouse who placed his shot well beyond the diving Malkowski into the bottom corner.

Brighouse thought that they taken the lead as Francis again fired a shot into the net only to see the linesman had his flag up for offside.

As the second half Coulson almost got the Seasiders back in front as he hit a superb shot on the edge of the box, only to see his strike tipped round the post by the diving Callister.

Brid pushed for sustained periods, forcing the Brighouse defence into action, but the possession couldn’t seem to be turned into goals.

Dyer had a great chance as he spun against his defender on the edge of the six-yard box, but his effort was deflected wide of the goal for a corner.

Sub Matty Dixon, who had replaced Earl early in the second half, linked well with Coulson as he put the striker through on target, but Callister tipped the ball out for a corner.

As the game entered the last few minutes Dyer rounded the keeper following a through-ball from Winfield, but was unable to gain his balance and get full control as his shot went agonisingly wide of the open goal.