​New-look Bridlington Town set to kick off season in FA Cup at Birtley Town

It begins a new era for the club, as Pete Smurthwaite ended his two decade tenure as chairman of the club, this being the first competitive game without him owning the club, writes Ben Edwards.

Taking over the baton is Dan Rogers of HDM Solar, who has ambitions to grow the club on and off the pitch. This has seen considerable improvements to the playing squad, most notably the signing of Mike Coulson, former Scarborough captain, from Farsley.

Coulson is one of many impressive pickups this summer, offering EFL experience alongside new signings Simon Heslop and Nathan Doyle.

Other new signings for the Seasiders include Josh Barrett, Curtis Morrison and Matty Bowman.

Costello has also retained key players from last season, including captain James Williamson, Pete Davidson, Will Sutton, Alex Markham, Tom Algar and Bobby Attree and Benn Lewis.

The club have been committed to bringing through players local to Bridlington from the lower leagues.

Coby Scotter and Billy Ripley have both found themselves on the scoresheet for Brid, while Ryan Bemrose has also impressed in midfield, with the trio signing on for the 2024-25 campaign.

Keeper Owen Grainger, who also grew up in Brid, was also signed on a two-month loan from Leeds United, to compete with Ben Voase for that number one shirt.

Costello, who admitted he was close to leaving at the end of the 2023-24 season, says he opted to stay due to the ambition of the new ownership. He appointed Denny Ingram to assist him this season.

Pre-season saw Bridlington Town face sides of differing abilities. Against National League North opposition in Scarborough Athletic and Farsley Celtic, they gave a good account of themselves on both occasions - losing 2-0 and drawing 1-1, respectively.

Both away games ended in 1-0 victories, against Goole AFC and Harrogate Railway. The Seasiders did pick up defeats against the likes of Hallam and Beverley, though the primary focus was on getting minutes into players’ legs.

The final pre-season game was against Bridlington Town Reserves, a family day which saw the two Bridlington sides face off, with an opportunity for supporters to meet the new owner before the match.

There were plenty of positives to take from the 4-1 win, including goals for local lads Scotter and Ripley, as well as Davidson playing 45 minutes on his return from injury.

Players who were absent from that game for various reasons, including Doyle, Markham, Attree, are all expected to return for the Birtley game, possibly alongside some of the injured players.

Birtley play their football in Northern League Division 1, a league below the Seasiders.

It is expected that it won’t be an easy match, however, as there are strong sides in that league, as Brid learned in last season’s FA Cup, losing 3-0 to Bishop Auckland, who’ve since been promoted to the NPL East.

Despite finishing fourth last campaign, it has not been a good start for Birtley, who lost their opening league game away from home 3-0 against Penrith.