Grimsby Borough 1-2 Bridlington Town: Match Report

 Grimsby Borough 1-2 Bridlington Town: Match Report

The Wilderness Boys welcomed the Seasiders to the Technica Home of Boro for their latest Northern Premier League Division One East fixture on Wednesday evening. However, Tom Claisse’s side would suffer late heartbreak as their wait for a first victory of the season goes on, with the visitors snatching the spoils at the last.

After having the weekend off, Borough were hoping to build on the good performance that secured a point against Garforth Town last time out in spite of injury setbacks that saw many key players absent.

Anane Wireko, Edwin Essel, Josh Clarke, Charlie Burden-Whittleton and Heath Richardson would miss out once more, but there was a welcome return to the squad for midfielder Josh Venney, while Billy Bradley was back after missing out last week.

Hayden Rogers deputised in goal for the second successive game, as Bradley lined up alongside Tom Sawyer, Bradley Wood and AJ Adelekan in the back four. Alex Flett and Sam Topliss were joined by Harvey Cribb in the middle of the park, with the latter looking to get forward at every opportunity, while Tristan Drummond and Charlie Clements provided the width, with Kieron Ceesay spearheading the attack.

Venney took his place on the bench alongside Paul Walker, Jack Barlow, Mason Couch, and youngster Josh Fraiwold, who was hoping to make his first-team debut.

First-Half

The visitors got proceedings underway, and the early exchanges passed by with little incident as both sides looked to settle into their respective systems.

Borough were the first to threaten, with Drummond’s cross from the right-hand side just evading the runs of Ceesay and Clements at the back post. Bridlington quickly countered that, though, with winger Ahmed Salam unleashing a fierce left-footed effort from distance that Rogers did well to turn onto the crossbar and away for a corner.

The game was now beginning to swing from end to end, with Cribb capitalising on some defensive uncertainty in the 11th minute, before finding Ceesay, whose attempted chip over Alex Baird in the Seasiders goal didn’t quite have enough purchase.

Five hard-fought minutes later, and Bridlington’s Salam tried his look from range once more, this time firing just wide of Rogers’ left upright.

The visitors were having a positive spell, and wide player Ifeanyi Nnenanya found himself in a good position in the penalty area, though shot high and wide, much to the frustration of his teammates who were waiting for a cross into the six-yard box.

Midway through the first period, and Bridlington striker Reece Wilson glanced a header wide when well placed, before Borough began to get the ball down and take the upper hand after the half-hour mark, with Cribb firing over, before good work down the right by Bradley presented a chance for Ceesay, who saw his left-footed volley from 12-yards well saved by the visitors’ stopper.

Claisse’s men were playing some entertaining football as half-time approached, with Clements’ delivery from the left finding Drummond, though the Borough wide player’s header was blocked at source by the opposing full-back before the referee brought a competitive first 45 minutes to a close.

Second-Half

Neither boss made any changes at the interval, and the second period began in the same manner as the first, with both sides looking to find their rhythm and get the upper hand in what was an even contest.

Drummond’s 50th minute shot from the edge of the box was deflected wide, and while the subsequent corner was slightly overhit, Wood retrieved the ball and swung in an inviting cross that Ceesay glanced wide.

Topliss saw his low drive comfortably dealt with by Baird in the Bridlington goal, before, at the other end, Seasiders’ left-back Walker’s dangerous delivery flashed across Rogers’ goal with nobody able to make contact.

Couch and Venney replaced Clements and Cribb on the hour mark as Claisse looked to freshen things up in search of a breakthrough.

The visitors Salam saw his 63rd-minute free-kick well dealt with by Rogers, before Borough opened the scoring in fine fashion five minutes later.

A sweeping passing move that began with a superb tackle by Wood ended with Adelekan turning and firing home a left-footed strike from just inside the box to give his side the lead.

The Seasiders responded by immediately bringing on physical striker Toby Marriott, and while they began to up the tempo in search of a leveller, the Wilderness Boys were fairly comfortable until midfielder Billy Marshall found some space to turn and shoot at goal in the 79th-minute, his 25-yard well hit drive finding the bottom corner to make it 1-1.

That appeared to give the visitors a boost, as just two minutes later, Marriott saw his header crash off the bar before being cleared to safety.

As the clock wound down, both sides were looking capable of finding a winner; Ceesay almost doing just that with two minutes of normal time remaining when he dispossessed the visitors captain Tom Allan before firing a left-footed strike wide of the post.

Debutant Fraiwold and Barlow replaced Drummond and Ceesay as five minutes of added time were signalled, and after Ben Tweed’s close range effort had flown over the bar in the dying embers, the match looked set to end all-square.

However, the visitors were then awarded a free-kick on half way, with the ball forward dropping to Marriott whose left-footed strike took a cruel deflection to fly into the corner and seal victory for Bridlington.

It was very harsh on Claisse’s men, who’d done more than enough to earn at least a point from the game. However, they’re not getting the rub of the green thus far in the 2026/27 campaign, and will be hoping their fortunes change for the better in the upcoming fixtures.

Borough are next in action on Saturday (August 29th), hosting Dunston UTS at the Technica Home of Grimsby Borough in the FA Trophy. We hope to see you there supporting the lads once again.