The Ferriby Five - another player quits Town

Furious chairman Peter Smurthwaite has again alleged the Villagers have made an illegal approach for defender Paul Robson, who has decided to sign for the National League North side.

Bad blood between the two clubs has escalated in recent weeks, after Brett Agnew, Jack Walters, Alex Davidson and Jamie Forrester all swapped Bridlington for Ferriby, and Smurthwaite has accused the village club of tapping up his squad.

Right-back Robson, who only joined Bridlington earlier this season, told manager Curtis Woodhouse that Ferriby had tried to obtain his signature, and Town say they made an official complaint to the authorities on Monday.

But the defender has now decided to jump ship, less than 24 hours before The Seasiders host Barton Town in an NCEL match.

In a statement on the club website, the chairman said: "Paul Robson has today sent a text to Curtis Woodhouse to say he is unavailable for us tomorrow because he signed for NFU last night. I have today contacted the East Riding County FA but received no satisfactory explanation and the usual 'Sweet FA' response.

"NFU have now signed five of our first team players since November 30, 2017. The registration rules are you can only approach one of other clubs players every 28 days, this situation should not have been allowed by the FA and ERCFA to happen.

"We play Barton Town tomorrow in what is a vital game in their fight against relegation with us fielding a weekend team through no fault of our own which is totally unfair on the other teams fighting relegation in our league.

"The same applied last week when we played top of the league AFC Mansfield with a weakened team, no disrespect to them they were worthy winners."

Smurthwaite has publicly offered to sell the Bridlington club to North Ferriby's new owners for £125,000.