Barton Town OB 2 Bridlington Town 3

The return fixture to one of our closest rivalries, saw us travel to their place on the other side of Hull, well its on the other side of the Humber, which meant a £6 return journey just on the Humber bridge before we even started.

As has been mentioned here before,  Barton have several ex-Brid players amongst their ranks, today there was Ash Dexter, Danny Buttle, Anthony Bowser, Tom Lee (injured), Gareth Owen, Scott Philips & Dave Bramley and possibly one or two others.

There was a good contingency from Brid, probably a good 40-50 fans out of 124, to cheer the lads on. Barton were no push overs, them beating us twice this year testifies to that. Conditions and the pitch were good, a slight wind whilst a bit chilly.

Barton take the lead, probably with their first effective shot, when Bowsley shoots from just outside the side part of the penalty area, straight into the top far corner of the goal, giving Wilbur no chance.

Until that point we had had several chances and had most of the play, and after the goal was no different. Bennett played some excellent 1-2′s with Greening a couple of times before he shot at goal, it was saved by Bramley, and followed up by Hoggy to slot the ball home from a tight angle. We had lots of opportunities, but thanks to the defending of  Dexter and the keeping of Bramley, keeping us at bay. The second came from a free kick, which was given away easily by Dexter, it was floated into the box, flicked on by Dexter and bundled in by their number 4 (with Hoggy in close proximity), the third came from a corner and was well headed in by Hoggy.

On 93 Dexter gets their second, but I have to say the scoreline flatters them, we had huge swathes of territory and possession and could have won by more. Several players had a great game today, but my stand out player was Jenkinson, who has slotted in extremely well at centre half, and commanded the back line really well, and with Palms and Suddaby in great form, made it hard for Phillips and Owen to have any impact in the game.

Well done lads. if we win 10 of our last 12 games, the title is ours.

NCEL Prem		P	Pts	+/-
1	Bridlington	26	59	38
2	Retford	28	59	25
3	Staveley MW	27	56	21
4	Winterton	29	53	17
5	Scarborough	28	52	34
6	Tadcaster	27	52	20
7	Parkgate	26	51	27
8	Brighouse	27	51	23
9	Thackley	29	46	7

The result of the day though, came at Cambridge Utd’s Abbey Stadium, where my “other” non-league team Wealdstone, reached the semi finals of the FA Trophy by beating the Conference side. Wealdstone are a step 3 team, 2 higher than Brid, 2 lower than Cambridge, and in the pyramid, currently have 95 non-league teams above them – thats like Barnet or someone reaching the FA Cup semi’s.

Wealdstone completed the non-league double back in 1985,  and have suffered all sorts of mis-fortune from then till now, but a dedicated bunch of players and supporters have given them a settled home and a vastly improving team. Famous players include Stuart Pearce and Vinnie Jones.

Next round see them against either York, Luton or Newport County – some pretty high flying non-league clubs there – in a home and away encounter, then for the winners of the two games, WEMBLEY.

Brid 5 Barton Town Old Boys 1 (a)

A bit of a weird day today weather wise, as it was absolutely peeing it down at lunchtime, and I was getting a little concerned that the game was going to be called off – probably as we arrived at the ground.

I’d arranged to pick up Dom and Uncle G on the way, and thankfully, the nearer the Humber Bridge we got, the better the weather got. Thank god !

It was interesting debating how the team would line up and the thoughts of Thursday nights performance. As it turned out, the 16 or so players that were donning the famous away white kit today, were the nucleus of the squad that had been chosen by the management.

Barton contained a few ex Brid players, Burdick, Suddaby, Giblin (who didn’t play) and one or two other lads.

The Brid lads were given a vigorous warm up, which looked very professional & the game kicked off on time, by a set of officials whose average age looked about 12.

Both teams were up for the game, nothing dirty, just an excellent game between the two sides, and Barton early on were more than a match for the visitors, who last season were 2 divisions higher. For the first time in a long while, the Brid team looked like a team with a bit of confidence, playing like a team, and apart from one or two hoofs, tried to keep it on the deck. There reward was repaid mid way through the half by a superbly taken free kick from just outside the box. This was followed by a well worked second not long after. Wow 2-0 up, it was great.

Second half continued in the same vein, with substitutes playing in the same manner as the players they had just replaced. 5-0 up with a few minutes to go before we conceded a good goal. Around 70 or so were watching from Barton’s tidy little ground, with a very nice clubhouse, I certainly felt at home in their place.

Games seen : 2

Goals seen : 7 home 4 away

out of 10 : 9, we played well and there were some positive signs for the lads, both in the team and on the sidelines.