Bridlington Town 5 Bottesford Town 0 (h)

Tonight we kicked off our NCEL Presidents Cup run against Bottesford, who are currently mid-table in the NCEL 1st division. We had a few first teamers out, well actually they were eating chips and drinking beer in the bar (but they were there to cheer on their team mates!!) and Bottesford by all accounts were playing a fairly youthful side.

Conditions were good, yet again the pitch is in excellent nick, but the mid week games are now starting off in full moonlit night, today was officially the last day of summer – someone should tell mother nature, that summer finished sometime in early June, and she owes me 3 months of bloody hot weather.

Didn’t think many would come, 108 in the end, not surprising really, when none of us know who the NCEL president is and which one of his cups we were playing for ?

We have vast swathes of possession in the game, and create enough chances to make it at least 12-0, but it takes us until 43rd minute to get off the mark and we get another about 40 seconds later. I only know this because someone told me, as I had gone to the bar for a drink and to see the last 5 mins of the 1st half of Leeds Liverpool. Bloody typical.

2nd half and I felt we lost our shape a little early doors, but our stamina and skill level shone through in the end, and we scored three very good goals in the last 15 minutes. to be fair to Bottesford they never gave up and with some better finishing themselves in the first half, could have scored two or three good goals of their own.

A good run out for the lads, better than a training session, however, Frank Belt, Nathan Hotte were subbed and both looked to be hobbling a bit – lets hope they are ok for the impending goalfest on Saturday against poor old Brodsworth who have played 7 lost 7 socred 2 and conceded 42. So 0-0 it is then … lol.

If i was playing NCEL championship manager 2010 on the Xbox for this Saturdays game, I would play the following formation(for this game only):

Wilberforce

Gibbo, Mountford, Dexter

Belt, Rhodes, Hotte, Allanson, Buttle

Palmer, Burdick, Wilkinson

For me, I can’t see them scoring many, if any against our normal 4-4-2. Lets go all out attack and aim for at least 12-15 goals, if they get one or two, so what? It’s not going to hurt us too much. (and as I have now built this thing up so much, I realise some changes need to be made as Burdick probably can’t play due to his suspension for his recent red card.) but you get my drift….if so, move Rhodes to front line, and bring in Dave Ricardo or Tom Lee into the middle.

Bridlington Town 0 Whitby Town 1 (FA cup)

Forgive me father for I have sinned, it is 6 days since my last confession because I have been very busy and very lame in fulfilling my blogging responsibilities.

Where do i start ? Ok there were two games before the Whitby one that I’ve not recorded – both away, Arnold Town where we won 7 (seven)-0 and against Liversedge, where we won  5-1, this after being 1 down after 25 seconds. Several of the guys got on the scoresheet, Craig Palmer getting back to back hat tricks. The lads were absolutely awesome by all accounts, but then we know that already !!

The Whitby game.

The build up to the game was quite entertaining, the week leading up to it, someone had posted on our forum about one of our number who, not so long ago, left the club and to start following Whitby (after a brief foray of watching Frickley). This person had made one or two comments which had riled our guys, couple that with one or two Whitby comments about how easy it will be, beating us, made the tie that little bit more appealing.

Weather was red hot – typical summers day. The lads were warming up, a little spring in their step, I had a good chat with Teach and Gary, and a couple of the lads – they were all in fine fettle. I know Gary knows exactly what he is doing with the team, but such a workout in that heat must have been hugely exhausting.

370 pack into Queensgate (probabl our third highest attendance of the season 2  x Scarborough being the most – and hopefully a dream run in the vase will help us surpass this mark). Whitby probably having somewhere in the region of 100 there, and they made some noise early doors. However, this was short lived as they started to realise our lads weren’t here to make the numbers up, and that the lower league home team weren’t actually that bad.

First half and the majority of play is in the Whitby half, how Brid don’t score, I don’t know. The Whitby keeper is the coolest player in their team and does command his area well. Before you know it, half time comes and Whitby actually look a different team in the second half – must have had one helluva bollocking. They don’t penetrate too much and on 73 one of their subs breaks through and scores a smart goal in the far corner. 310 heads drop in disbelief, recognising that Whitby have scored with probably their second shot of the game, we can’t do much in the last 15 and lose by the only goal.

A great report from an independent fan can be found here —-> kirky’s report

Some pictures of the game are here ——-> pictures

And a number of the Whitby fans were quite complimentary of our team and fans.

Since then, we had a trip to Maltby Main on Wednesda night, where normal service was resumed, we won 5-1. However, it appears to have been a bit of a dirty game with a fairly incompetent official in charge. By the end they were down to 8 players, we were down to 10 (Craig Burdick getting a red for something or other), plenty of yellows and a massive melee after some poor tackling. The famous groundhopper has put a report up on his website, which can be found here —->  Groundhopper

A free weekend – probably to do some jobs or shopping no doubt ….

Bridlington Town v Shildon & Selby

I didn’t attend either of these games. By all accounts Shildon were a very difficult side to play against and we beat them 1-0 with a fine goal by Tom Lee. We apparently play Whitby in the next round of the FA Cup on the back of this win.

Today we went to Selby with 3 players out, and we won 2-0, but again the lads that travelled to the game reckon we should have won 8 or 9 – 1. Nathan Hotte and Craig Burdick with the goals.

Could be a whole before I write another game up, as we have quite a few away games coming up. Good Luck boys.

Bridlington Town 4 Thackley 2 (h)

Turned out to be an excellent day on the sporting front, great weather, England destroying the Aussies in the fifth and final test, Soccer AM is back and in full swing, we’re at home, and I’m feeling fine and dandy.

Thackley had a reasonable campaign last year, and had one of the league’s top scorers amongst their ranks Chris Coy – thankfully today we only saw one glimpse of his prowess in front of goal.

Amazingly the crowd was the same as last weeks, 170, and it didn’t take long for the home faithful to see the boys get over their blip of last weeks game with Nathan Hotte scoring after 7 minutes. Ben Knapper scored a wonderful goal on 19 with two great one-two’s with Nathan and Ash Allanson before curling one round the keeper. The visitors scored one on 38 minutes on a rare foray into our half – though you could hear a pin drop when it went in.

Half time comes and yet again no joy in the raffle, Panda Paul has no luck either.

We come out firing on all cylinders in the second half, and eventually seal the game with a header from Palms and a second good goal from Nathan. We seemed to switch off for the last 15 or so, and Chris Coy scored a very good goal (from where I was anyway) late on to bring it to 4-2. Thackley seemed to wake up at this point and started putting us under a lot of pressure, thankfully no further damage done. Thats 2 out of 2, and an FA Cup win – next round for this is this weekend against Shildon FC.

A small prayer for the Brodsworth FC fans and players, played two lost two (9-1 and 10-0), it may be a very long season for them – such a shame we dont play them for a while yet.

Also, on a more serious note, I can’t go without expressing my best wishes to Callum Davenport and his mum who were brutally attacked over the weekend. Davenport had been stabbed several times in his legs with serious & life threatening injuries. His pregnant sisters boyfriend has been remanded in custody on several accounts of assault. The surgeons are unsure whether Davidson will ever play again, they thought he was going to lose one of his legs at one point. Lets hope he bounces back.

Usain St. Leo Bolt

Jesus, how incredible is this man ? 12 months ago, he slaughters the 100m & 200m world records at the Beijing olympics but then to achieve that very feat in this years World Championships in Berlin is extraordinary. His times of 9.58 & 19.19 for each respective race is phenomenal (the world records for these races 20 years ago were 9.92 – Carl Lewis and 19.72 – Pietro Mannea).

The great thing about Bolt is that he seems to be such a down to earth sort of guy, who races with a huge smile on his face, even when he is in the finals of these big races – very different to the arrogant, brash but talented Americans of the late 90’s early 00’s.

I truly think this guy could go so much faster on some of the “fast tracks” that are found on the Grand Prix circuit, and would love to see this truly iconic sporting figure break the 9.40 and sub 19 mark.

My money is on him for the overseas sports personality of the year award. And hopefully we’ll see him at the Britannia to see one of his good mates, Ricardo Fuller, playing for Stoke.

Bridlington Town 1 Esh Winning 1 (h) FA Cup

I don’t know how I fitted in going to this game with the amount of footy on the telly this weekend. The first game of the day was Aussie Rules from Adelaide – not the best of spectacles for Aussie Rules, but its still a belting game. The first Premier game kicked off at 1’sh and featured last years FA Cup winners and Premiership 3rd best team v those lucky sods from Humberside who escaped relegation by a gnats gonad – aka Chelsea v Hull. Hull actually took the lead against one of the Title favourites, however, they lost 2-1 with a brace from Drogba (the winner coming in injury time).

We played Esh Winning of County Durham in the First pre-qualifying, qualifying preliminary round of the FA Cup, where I reckon we will draw Chelsea at home in the 3rd round – i’d like to see Mssrs Drogba, Anelka & Bosingwa tackle the hostile environment of Queensgate on a very cold, windy and wet January weekend – in front of about 185.

Esh certainly came to give it a good go, and really put us off our stride. The confident swagger of a week ago was gone, ou get up and go seemed to have got up and gone.We had some early chances, which I’m sure, if we had nailed one, would have settled the nerves. Esh had their chances too, but found our keeper in marvellous form, and who should quite rightly, win the man of the match award. No disrespect to Esh, but we just didn’t turn up today and the reaction of the players and Phillo at the end summed it all up – total dejection. It now means a play off at their place on Tuesday, which for the hardy souls will mean a 5-6 hour round trip.

On a positive note, Stoke beat Burnley 2-0 for an opening day win. Home to watch the gunners absolutely destroy Everton 6-1 at Goodison, perhaps all the talk of Lescott going to Man City has de-stabilised the Toffeemen, their defending was woeful, though the Gooners were absolutely brilliant, they weren’t missing “Adebayor who ?”

Sunday meant a family meal for lunch, so the United game would be missed, but more than made up for by Liverpools defeat to Tottenham – they only lost 2 games last season in the league, they’ve already lost one this. Monday meant I was able to catch up with the Football League highlights on iplayer, Tuesday means Champions League Arsenal v Celtic and more Prem games, and Wednesday Stoke travel to Liverpool to hopefully maintain our 100% record.

Bridlington Town 4 Pickering 1 (h)

Ahh, the suns out, the cold beer is flowing nicely and England are getting thumped in the Ashes. Summer has finally come? And yes, the football season officially starts (well it started yesterday with a dull 0-0 draw M’boro v Sheff U). Couple this with Southampton Millwall at lunchtime, and Newcastle WBA this afternoon and Brid hosting Pickering in between, football saturation begins now for 11 months – what with it being a World Cup year and all that !

We had three out with suspension for today, possibly 4 if Flesh had a pending suspension but he was away on holiday. So it would be interesting to see how big the squad is and how they would gel for their first competitive outing of the year. Pickering were one of the better teams to come to Queensgate last year but had a really bad run in, losing 12 of their last 16 games. They had beaten us 4-1 at Queensgate in front of 191 hardy souls, though we did exact sweet revenge at their place with a late Phillo winner direct from a corner.

There were quite a few in today, I estimate about 200, which is a shame, because we played some exceptional football today and really could have (should have) blown Pickering away about 9-1. Alex Rhodes, Danny Buttle, Tom Fleming, Palms, Jack Wilkinson and Ash Allanson were awseome all running tirelessly, and giving the opposition very little time on the ball when they had it. At the back, Ash was his normal calm self, good support by Ben Knapper in the other full back spot. Adam Mountford played well in central defence, did appear to look a little nervous early doors but grew with stature as the game went on. I think Tom Lee (?) beside ADam also looked nervous, gave the ball away in compromising situations a couple of times but again grew with confidence as the game went on.

Palms scored a sublime goal on 42, kick down the pitch by Mark Wilberforce Palms shrugged off the last man and chipped the goalie from 20 yards.

After 62 they equalized with a scrappy affair, I couldn’t see it too well as I was at the other end.

Ash Allanson wins a penalty, when for the third time, he is upended in the box, he takes the penalty himself and we go 2-1 up on 70 minutes.

6 minutes later Jack Wilkinson breaks free and provides a clinical finish against the keeper when 1 on 1

And on 89 Palms cooly finishes for his second and our fourth.

We did have the ball in the net a fifth time but it was disallowed for off-side.

Brillaint effort from the team, those missing may wonder if (&when) they will get back into the team when those who replaced  them, did so well today.

After reviwing the NCEL site, we are fourth after that victory on goal difference. Hallam winning 9-1 AT Brodsworth Welfare are top.

Apologies for the lack of Twitter updates, we couldn’t log back on after the first goal.

Bridlington Town 1 Hull City XI 4

Blimey it only feels like 5 minutes since I was writing up Saturdays game. I was going to go to a game last night – Nantwich Town v Port Vale, but being delayed in the office and then by the two bosses in my life, meant I wouldn’t get to Nantwich’s super stadium, and at £8 entrance money (for the visit of Port Vale for gods sake, eight pound, e.i.g.h.t. pound) I decided not to go and so i spent the money on a nice bottle of wine and some nosh instead.

A training course in the midlands meant it would be touch and go if I was going to be home on time, but thankfully, our course tutor wanted to finish earlier than me, so i was home in plenty of time – 7.00.  The arrival of the Tigers to Queensgate is always an exciting event and tonight was no different, especially as BBC Radio Humberside were reporting / broadcasting from the ground. There were people arriving at the ground from all directions, the car park was nearly full, with a very nice Ferrari adorning the chairmans spot – tagged with the number plate BD55 TGR, now in this font that doesn’t look spectacular, but with a bit of jiggery pokery it looked like BOSS TGR.

Both turnstiles were buzzing and Nick Barmby was standing outside having a natter with a couple of others. Inside, after getting my latest losing raffle ticket, I nearly bumped into Paul Duffen (HCFC Chairman), Phil Brown (HCFC manager) and Sir Pete Smurthwaite. The two teams were warming up, and it was apparent that the Hull team was made up of first year pro’s and youth / reserve players.

The game was evenly matched early on with Hull probably shading possession and territory. The Twitter updates didn’t take too long to get going as one of the Hull midfielders waltzed throught the defence and round the keeper to slot in. We battled well, and went into the break 1 down. Second half and we were 3 down within 5 minutes of the restart, bugger. We had made some changes and they must have had a roasting from the gaffers hence the slow start. Jack Wilkinson and Alex Rhodes made a different sort of impact with their pace and experience when they came on, and for the second game running, Jack set up Alex with a sublime pass off of the woodwork. They sealed all hope of a comeback when they got a fourth when our keeper came out ala Mick Clarke and missed player and ball a long way outside the area (I liked Clarkey as a goalie and a nice bloke too).

A bumper crowd of 494 was there tonight, brilliant for everyone, and a big thanks to everyone at Hull FC who by being here tonight will help our clubs finances immensley. Lets hope that some of the local people that came along tonight will turn up for the seasons opener against Pickering on Saturday.

Bridlington Town 4 Sculcoates Amateurs 0

Can someone please email dear old mother nature and tell that summer consists of sunshine, warmth and scantily clad women – not the drizzly, miserable wintry fayre we had today.

A very measly crowd of about 90 or so attended this one, where we playing our annual game against Scullies, this time for the Memorial Cup (kindly sponsored by Graham Hebden and family) -we are the current holders.

Some changes for Town after last weeks performance, probably to give some players a good run out before next weeks games (v Hull on Wednesday and Pickering in the league next Sat), especially as some 1st teamers have suspensions pending.

Scullies played well throughout and at times didn’t look to out of place alongside us, one or two of their players stood out – their young goalie in the second half was very good. We did have some opportunities to score a quite a few more, but were lacking that killer instinct in front of goal today – Palms could easily have had 4 or 5.

What was pleasing other than the result, was the fact my lad and me were able to update the Twitter part of the blog with the goals as they went in, and equally as pleasing was Gail’s chilli – not as hot as recent offerings, but pleasant all the same.

Good effort by the team today and its looking good for the weeks, months and season ahead. Roll on a nice big bumper crowd for Wednesday.

Sir Bobby Robson…R.I.P.

It was almost a year ago to the day that i’d posted the news about Sir Bobby’s fight with cancer and how his immediate future wasn’t looking good for him (here is the link). True to his fighting spirit, he kept the disease at bay for another year, but he sadly lost this inevitable fight today.

I have been listening to Talksport this morning, where there were many tributes of the great man. A thorough bio of Sir Bobby can be found at numerous sites including the following:

www.officialplayersites.com

www.spiritus-temporis.com

show racism the red card

but the best i’ve found is on Wikipaedia

Some memorable, comical quotes from the great man include :

- We didn’t underestimate them but they were a lot better than we thought – after England sneaked through against Cameroon in the 1990 World Cup.

- The first 90 minutes are the most important.

- We’re flying on the Concorde. That’ll shorten the distance – that’s self-explanatory.

- I would have given my right arm to be a pianist.

- I’m not going to look beyond the semi-final – but I would love to lead Newcastle out at the final.

- I do want to play the short ball and I do want to play the long ball. I think long and short balls is what football is all about.

- He’s very fast and if he gets a yard ahead of himself nobody will catch him.

- If we start counting our chickens before they hatch, they won’t lay any eggs in the basket.

- There will be a game where somebody scores more than Brazil and that might be the game they lose.

- Steve Hodge has been unfit for two weeks, well, no, for 14 days.

- Look at those olive trees – they’re two hundred years old – from before the time of Christ! – Sir Bobby illustrates how great life is in Barcelona.

- Titus looks like Tyson when he strips off in the dressing-room, except he doesn’t bite and has a great tackle – on Titus Bramble at Newcastle.

- I played cricket for my local village. It was 40 overs per side, and the team that had the most runs won. It was that sort of football.

- He’s got his legs back, of course, or his leg – he’s always had one but now he’s got two.

- He never fails to hit the target – but that was a miss.

- Sir Bobby to Bryan Robson: Good morning, Bobby. Bryan: You’re Bobby, I’m Bryan!

We didn’t underestimate them but they were a lot better than we thought – after England sneaked through against Cameroon in the 1990 World Cup.

The first 90 minutes are the most important.

We’re flying on the Concorde. That’ll shorten the distance – that’s self-explanatory.

I would have given my right arm to be a pianist.

I’m not going to look beyond the semi-final – but I would love to lead Newcastle out at the final.

I do want to play the short ball and I do want to play the long ball. I think long and short balls is what football is all about.

He’s very fast and if he gets a yard ahead of himself nobody will catch him.

If we start counting our chickens before they hatch, they won’t lay any eggs in the basket.

There will be a game where somebody scores more than Brazil and that might be the game they lose.

Steve Hodge has been unfit for two weeks, well, no, for 14 days.

Look at those olive trees – they’re two hundred years old – from before the time of Christ! – Sir Bobby illustrates how great life is in Barcelona.

Titus looks like Tyson when he strips off in the dressing-room, except he doesn’t bite and has a great tackle – on Titus Bramble at Newcastle.

I played cricket for my local village. It was 40 overs per side, and the team that had the most runs won. It was that sort of football.

He’s got his legs back, of course, or his leg – he’s always had one but now he’s got two.

He never fails to hit the target – but that was a miss.

Sir Bobby to Bryan Robson: Good morning, Bobby. Bryan: You’re Bobby, I’m Bryan!

Read more: http://soccerlens.com/funny-quotes-by-football-managers/1203/#ixzz0Mpk11JZ8

We didn’t underestimate them but they were a lot better than we thought – after England sneaked through against Cameroon in the 1990 World Cup.

The first 90 minutes are the most important.

We’re flying on the Concorde. That’ll shorten the distance – that’s self-explanatory.

I would have given my right arm to be a pianist.

I’m not going to look beyond the semi-final – but I would love to lead Newcastle out at the final.

I do want to play the short ball and I do want to play the long ball. I think long and short balls is what football is all about.

He’s very fast and if he gets a yard ahead of himself nobody will catch him.

If we start counting our chickens before they hatch, they won’t lay any eggs in the basket.

There will be a game where somebody scores more than Brazil and that might be the game they lose.

Steve Hodge has been unfit for two weeks, well, no, for 14 days.

Look at those olive trees – they’re two hundred years old – from before the time of Christ! – Sir Bobby illustrates how great life is in Barcelona.

Titus looks like Tyson when he strips off in the dressing-room, except he doesn’t bite and has a great tackle – on Titus Bramble at Newcastle.

I played cricket for my local village. It was 40 overs per side, and the team that had the most runs won. It was that sort of football.

He’s got his legs back, of course, or his leg – he’s always had one but now he’s got two.

He never fails to hit the target – but that was a miss.

Sir Bobby to Bryan Robson: Good morning, Bobby. Bryan: You’re Bobby, I’m Bryan!

Read more: http://soccerlens.com/funny-quotes-by-football-managers/1203/#ixzz0Mpk11JZ8

We didn’t underestimate them but they were a lot better than we thought – after England sneaked through against Cameroon in the 1990 World Cup.

The first 90 minutes are the most important.

We’re flying on the Concorde. That’ll shorten the distance – that’s self-explanatory.

I would have given my right arm to be a pianist.

I’m not going to look beyond the semi-final – but I would love to lead Newcastle out at the final.

I do want to play the short ball and I do want to play the long ball. I think long and short balls is what football is all about.

He’s very fast and if he gets a yard ahead of himself nobody will catch him.

If we start counting our chickens before they hatch, they won’t lay any eggs in the basket.

There will be a game where somebody scores more than Brazil and that might be the game they lose.

Steve Hodge has been unfit for two weeks, well, no, for 14 days.

Look at those olive trees – they’re two hundred years old – from before the time of Christ! – Sir Bobby illustrates how great life is in Barcelona.

Titus looks like Tyson when he strips off in the dressing-room, except he doesn’t bite and has a great tackle – on Titus Bramble at Newcastle.

I played cricket for my local village. It was 40 overs per side, and the team that had the most runs won. It was that sort of football.

He’s got his legs back, of course, or his leg – he’s always had one but now he’s got two.

He never fails to hit the target – but that was a miss.

Sir Bobby to Bryan Robson: Good morning, Bobby. Bryan: You’re Bobby, I’m Bryan!

Read more: http://soccerlens.com/funny-quotes-by-football-managers/1203/#ixzz0Mpk11JZ8