Garforth Town celebrate shock win over Bridlington Town

Garforth Town 5-2 Bridlington Town

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Match Photos are HERE

Graham Nicholas celebrated his first win as Garforth Town head coach as the Miners secured a shock victory over Toolstation NCEL Premier Division big guns Bridlington Town at Wheatley Park.
New signing Stephen Simpson wrote his name into the headlines with two goals as Garforth won at home in the league for the first time since April 2012.
Defender Adam Clark also made his debut and Nicholas was ecstatic with the victory.
“I’m absolutely delighted and I’m really pleased for the boys,” he said.
“Against Thackley it should have been three points and the performance was there. At Albion Sports the second half performance was there so I knew the players were capable of doing it.
“5-2 is a dream result against Bridlington who finished third last season. The new lads made the difference. The lads looked around and saw Simpson was playing for us along with the new centre-back and it gave them security and a sense of belief that we can go forward and have security at the back.
“The goals were well-taken and were absolutely superb. I said to the lads ‘let’s look back at the Nostell Tournament and how we defended and when to press and when to delay'. They did it spot on tonight.
“At half-time it was 3-2 and I said ‘don’t dare let these guys back in the game’. We came out fighting and we scored that early goal and that set the benchmark. We played counter-attacking football in the second half and played deep and when we hit them on the break we looked really dangerous.”



In the opening three games to the season, Garforth have struggled to defend and despite falling behind early-on to Bridlington, the floodgates stayed shut on this occasion. Scott Phillips’ turn and shot put the visitors ahead on 15 minutes, but Garforth responded instantly.
Simpson went for the audacious volley from 30 yards and the strike bamboozled goalkeeper Paul Fraser and despite an attempt to save the effort, the ball landed in the top corner.
And that’s when Bridlington defence began to struggle. Brid’s philosophy of passing the ball around was not working as Garforth were squeezing them high up the pitch. The Bridlington defence also couldn’t contain the pace of the Garforth forward line. On 20 minutes Nick Black ran almost the length of Bridlington’s half before lobbing Fraser for goal number two.
Then if that wasn’t enough, C J Lyle left his marker for dead on the right-wing and cross for Alex Booker to slot the third goal home from the edge of the box.



The underdogs were deservedly ahead, but towards the end of the first half Bridlington did become in control of the game. Phillips wasted a glorious chance before Bridlington were awarded a ridiculous penalty.
Referee Jan Suchecki, who endured another nightmare game for a second consecutive match after Glasshoughton’s FA Cup tie with Jarrow on Saturday, had to take the word of assistant Ian Thornton. Thornton flagged for handball against Lyle. Tom Fleming’s header hit Lyle’s unmoving arm from two yards away and the decision was very soft to say the least.
Frank smashed the penalty home and Bridlington were on the ascendancy and looked good value for an equaliser. But for the second half Garforth set out to defend their lead and managed to kill the game within ten minutes of the restart. Andy Hawksworth headed a free kick past Fraser and a first win was looming.
And with time running out, Simpson broke down the left win before cutting inside his mark and sending a terrific strike into the top corner to seal the victory.

Gary Allanson

Bridlington manager Gary Allanson had no complaints with the result
“We have been quite lucky in our last couple of games by getting out of jail so it is something that has half been expected,” he said.
“Credit to Garforth, they pressed us and had five in midfield. The pace that they had when they broke was unbelievable. They didn’t give us any time on the ball to pass.
“I think we have gained a reputation of trying to pass the ball and teams are looking at us and pressing us and closing us down very quickly. We need to have a plan b to try and get out of it.
“We struggled to cope with their counter attack and I think in the second half they had five players against one or two going forward. Its poor on our behalf and I’m not taking anything away from Garforth because they fully deserved the win.
“I think for the first 15 minutes it was quite even and we scored before they equalised straight from the kick off. They scored another two so we were on the back-foot, but for the last 20 minutes of the first half we got ourselves back into it and were dominating possession.
“When we came out for the second half we said that they were on the back-foot and we were on the front foot so don’t concede in the first ten minutes. Then we did.”
Garforth Town: Smith, Hawksworth, C Misambu, Clark, Allen, Booker (Greenhalgh 54), Rupere, Stohrer, Black, Lyle (McDaniel 64), Simpson (M Misambu 72). Subs unused: Boland, Bracken.
Bridlington Town: Fraser, Belt, Brunton, Allanson, Aziz, Jenkinson, Paylor (Lee 53), Fleming, Phillips (Rookes 72), Sutton, Silburn (Hogg 53). Sub unused: Ricketts.
Referee: J Suchecki (York)
Attendance: 108
Man of the match: C J Lyle