Mike Thompson looks to continue flying start as Bridlington Town entertain Garforth Town

Thompson starts his second reign as gaffer with four consecutive home games, and has certainly done well at making the Mounting Systems Stadium a tough place to visit so far, writes Ben Edwards.

His first game in charge saw Bridlington come out 4-2 winners over Bishop Auckland, despite trailing on two occasions.

Having moved out of the relegation zone, Bridlington faced bottom of the table Sheffield FC just four days later.

A completely different type of match to Bishop Auckland, the Seasiders showed a different side to their game, winning the scrappy affair 1-0 thanks to Michael Coulson’s penalty, who made it two goals in as many games.

On the most recent result, which took Bridlington up to 16th, Thompson said: “The major thing was (the) result. The way the boys did things, I can’t grumble with.”

Right-sided defender Bolton Makwedza made his debut, replacing the injured Benn Lewis in the only change to the starting lineup, while new signing and local lad Cam Connelly made a 30-minute cameo from the bench.

On Makwedza’s performance, Thompson commented: “Bolton was a gift. He’s come in, we’ve had to get a lot of information into him today, but boy did he take it on board?

“He’s got a relationship with Dan Hartley, they know each other well so that worked really well in our favour.”

Despite a busy schedule due to rearranged fixtures, Bridlington do have a week to prepare, unlike Garforth, who won 2-1 at home to Consett AFC on Tuesday evening. They go into Saturday’s game sitting ninth, having had a goalless draw at home against Stocksbridge Park Steels at the weekend.

Having gained promotion from the Northern Counties East League through the play-offs last campaign, ‘The Miners’ can be pleased with how they have adapted at Step Four.

That being said, they were on the wrong end of a 1-0 defeat against Bridlington Town earlier in the season, with Coulson’s first half header being the difference.