25th February 2003

Bridlington Town Reserves 2 v 5 Westella & Willerby

A depleted Westella & Willerby side got back to winning ways on Tuesday night with a comprehensive 5-2 victory over Bridlington Town Reserves. Shortly before kick off  Westella lost three players, plus had to name the injured Nick Laughton in their side,  leading to coach “Fiddler” Gray being named as a substitute. Things were not helped with the early loss of central defender Lee Mankel to injury with Luke Ellis replacing him. Despite this and a confident Bridlington start, Westella gradually began to get a foothold in the game, with youngster Mike Derbyshire and the dangerous Jamie Robinson prominent. Eventually Westella took the lead in the 25^th minute from a Derbyshire corner, Mike Gibson headed against a post and Laughton netted the rebound. Two further quick goals, from Gibson who headed home another Derbyshire corner and a speculative 25 yarder from Darren McGrath put Westella in control. 3-0 up at half time the second half continued in the same vein, although Westella were handicapped further with an injury to Jamie Robinson, who had to remain on the field. They moved further ahead in the 55^th minute when from another set play Luke Ellis hooked home from close range. To their credit Brid battled on and were rewarded when Garcia netted from close range after 65 mins. This though only spurred Westella on further, and after 75 minutes Nick Laughton latched on to an excellent Darren McGrath through ball to make the score 5-1, at which point he made way for Gray making his first appearance in the first team for 5 yrs. Jamie Robinson came off to save himself further damage and Brid dominated the last 10 mins, scoring a further late consolation goal through Wilkinson.