29th July 2015 v Lincoln united (H) 7:45pm - S43 3JL
Instead of telling you that they currently play in the Evostick South division (one above us), got there after winning the Northern Counties East Premier League in 1995, and that so far this preseason they have lost 2-1 to Lincoln Moorlands, 2-0 to Lincoln City, 3-0 to North Ferriby and 5-2 to Scunthorpe United and drawn 1-1 with Gainsborough Trinity...
...I thought I'd have a look at how our Northern Counties Premier League opponents have been doing in preseason.
Albion Sports, have played three games so far with the first being a 0-4 away win at Leeds City, then followed a 1-5 win against Yorkshire Amateur and finally an "experimental side" drew 1-1 with Otley Town. The "ones to watch" so far have been Marcus Edwards who has three goals and Danny Cunningham with two.
Armthorpe Welfares Brian Johnston enters his third season as manager and is joined this time round by two of his senior players who have stepped up to a joint player / assistant role namely Ryan Watson and Ben Muirhead. The goals certainly have been flying in at the Welfare ground but only one of them for the home side....losing 1-6 to Marske United, 0-1 to Buxton and 0-4 to Doncaster Rovers. In fact the only win of preseason so far has come away at CGB Humbertherm (0-4) with the other one also ending in defeat. (3-2 at Thorne Colliery)
Athersley Recreations eight goals have been scored by no less than seven different players and the penguins have won two, drawn one and lost one of their four games so far...curiously one player Rob Boardman has scored against them three times but for two different teams! a penalty consolation in the "recs" 3-1 home win against Ossett Albion and two in a 1-4 defeat to Nostell Miners Welfare.
The goals have also been flying in for and, against Barton Town Old Boys the first game at the Euronics Stadium saw them 0-5 down at one point to Scarborough Athletic before a late fightback gave the scoreline a bit of respectability ending 3-5. They then crashed to a 0-4 defeat to NCEL div 1 club Selby Town, and sandwiching a 5-0 win over Gainsborough Trinity and a 1-0 win over League One Barnsley was a 0-0 draw with Harrogate Railway - a somewhat surprising result considering their other games have featured an average of at least four goals a game!
After drawing 3-3 with a Hartlepool XI our opening day opponents Bridlington Town lost 5-3 to Selby Town of the NCEL Division one who have been handing out a few pre-season hidings and, might be worth having a pound on to do well this season.
You won't get much back if you plump for 'Brid this, or any year however as they are always "up there" amongst the front runners and since that defeat have rallied somewhat including a 6-0 win over a York City XI.
*please note the above is not a tip, nor is it intended to encourage gambling and any losses incurred are not my fault.
Brigg Town join us in the Premier League after resigning from the Evostick league and haven't had the best of times so far. Losing all five games, letting in 16 goals and scoring only twice, although its worth pointing out that one of those games was a narrow 0-1 defeat in the Lincolnshire Senior Cup final v Grantham Town and the lion's share of the goals conceded came against Sheffield United and Grimsby Town.
To be Continued!
