Match Report: Redcar Athletic 2-1 Bridlington Town

We overwrote a first half Bridlington goal with two of our own to see off a side who had just come of the back of a 7-0 win

We were finally given the weather we deserved, and we took to the pitch knowing there was going to be a trophy given at the end.

3 points were still wanted though, and it did take a bit of work to achieve them

We started well, with an Oscar Fletcher header being gathered by Bridlington’s keeper, before Louis produced some neat dribbling to evade a few defenders, though he dragged his eventual shot wide.

Bridlington were attacking too, with the Seasiders presumably still relishing their recent 7-0 win against Blyth Town.

They won a free kick in a decent spot that was deflected wide, and from the resulting corner, one of their players received the ball outside the box, shot through a crowd, and Mazfari was only able to push it further into the corner as the shot caught him off guard.

Bridlington led the title-winners, though that lead did not last long

In the 21st minute, Curtis played a great ball out wide to Louis, who controlled it, worked his way into the box and got a shot off that was palmed away by the keeper, but only to Bosh, who poked it in

Back on level terms, and we weren’t letting up, with another Louis Johnson attacking move seeing him cross a ball into the box, though it was headed wide by Bosh

We ended the half well, though, as Curtis Round put a cross in that was very blatantly handled by a Bridlington defender, meaning the ref had no choice but to point to the spot

Louis stepped up, struck the ball hard, and watched as the keeper went the wrong way to give us the lead. That penalty brought with it the half-time whistle, and we entered the interval with a lead

The second half nearly started amazingly well, as Bosh received a ball that put him through, and he looked to lift it past the keeper.

Somehow, though, his attempt ended up going wide, much to the shock of the crowd, who all thought it was a certain goal.

Oscar then put the ball in the back of the net, but he did so by kicking the ball out of the goalkeeper’s hands, meaning a foul was given to the visitors.

Oscar was again involved in another attacking move, this time as the potential assister, as he pinged a ball over to Curtis, who took a shot that just went over the bar.

Curtis was then involved once more as he bundled in a rebounded shot, though the offside flag went up too.

We made 4 of our 5 changes, with Kev Burgess, Owen Burns, Brad Fewster, and Mark Anderson coming on for Rio May, Oscar Fletcher, Adam Boyes, and John Howard.

Though those changes didn’t bring any more goals to the game, with Louis being the real potent threat throughout the remainder of the match

Bridlington then nearly got a scrappy equaliser as a misplaced backpass looked to set their attacker away, but Josh Mazfari came charging out of his goal to sweep the ball away.

A solid tackle from Guru saw him then charge down the wing after laying the ball off to Sparky, but his attempted pass was hit just too hard, and it ultimately evaded Nathan.

The final chance saw Bridlington pump a long throw into the area that landed at the feet of an attacker who blazed his shot over, and that brought the end of the game soon after

A trophy lift, 3 points, and we are now just a goal away from hitting a +100 GD (as long as we don’t concede)

Next up is a cup match tomorrow night as we head to Middlesbrough to take on Boro Rangers

After that is an away trip to Pontefract, before our last home match of the season as we welcome Blyth Town to the Hollou on the 18th

Hope to see you at them all, and up the Steelmen