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.

Brid 2 Hedon 3 (a)

Yes at last !

I have the kind of satisfaction that used to be portrayed in those old black and white films, when the man had finally shagged his gal and was sat in bed afterwards smoking a post-coital cigarette.

Thankfully the Hedon pitch was a stones throw away from a few of my customers, so it was quite handy to get to the game. However, the bizareness of playing a relatively competitive game in summer sunshine in the height of summer was definitely outweighed by the now seasonal downpour, grey clouds and better late than ever March wind. The gloomy surroundings of the local BP refinery didn’t help on the eye either. Was pleased to see a number of the Brid faithful at the place, and what looked like a tidy clubhouse. But the pitch we were on was a mile away !

Brid had some 25-30 players, one lot in the away kit, white, which i’d never seen us play in, and another lot in last years home kit of red. Kick off came, but there were two noteable absences who were due at the game – Dom and Uncle G, who were apparently lost. But they didn’t miss too much, only their first goal.

I knew there wasn’t going to be a lot of “league” importance with the game, but it was certainly played at a good pace throughout and some of the Brid lads were playing as if their careers were at stake, and the home team with points to prove and pride to keep. For us speculating fans, we felt the Brid lads in white were “fringe” 1st teamers, a couple of which were familiar, but most we didn’t know. We lost the half 3-0 with ex Brid player Craig Palmer (?) scoring 2.

2nd half sees Palmer the goalscorer, don a red Town shirt and is joined by all the other red shirted Town players. Things improve, players talking to each other, being a bit more comfortable on the ball, and making runs and space for each other. We scored two good goals – I was deafened by Dom when the first goal went in.

All in all, a good run out and a chance for the new management team to see the players and how they gelled with each other.

Shame that Carl Giblin (Fleshman) has decided to leave and join up with some buddies at Barton. Ironically, we’re there on Saturday. Good luck to Flesh, lets hope someone thanks him for all his efforts.

Games seen : 1

Goals Seen : 2 home 3 away

out of 10 : 8 for the fact that its back on, and for some of the banter we had last night.