Gary Allanson wants a top four finish for Bridlington
Gary Allanson wants his young Bridlington Town charges to learn from last season’s experiences and push on for a top four spot in the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division.
With a radically changed squad which was built up with mainly young players, Bridlington did exceptionally well to finish eighth.
Bridlington travel to Staveley on Saturday for the opening game of the campaign.
Allanson has only lost Eddy Birch and has added clear quality in striker Lewis Clarkson and midfielder Tim Taylor along with three new other new faces.
Now he wants Brid to kick on and he said: “We really want to be pushing top four, top six minimum.
“Most of the younger players have had a good season at this level last season so that experience will really help them for this season.
“This league is always tough, with one promotion place it makes it very difficult and because a lot of players can dual sign with clubs from higher leagues the players can change frequently.
“Over the last two or three seasons the quality of this league has really improved as a lot of players don’t want to do the travelling as much and the majority of the grounds/pitches have really improved and the budgets for clubs are far better.
“Pre-season has been up and down. Because a lot of our players are school teachers they have to take holidays in July which has really affected us and we have had up to seven and eight players missing for games and results have been up and down.
“We have had lots of trialists to look at but none have really stood out so we are where we are. Our main aim like every other club is to get ready for the first game and move from there.
We have two sessions for this week and we have the majority of players returned from holidays and getting over injuries, so come Saturday we will be near full strength.”
Bridlington have also announced a scheme to attract young supporters to Queensgate.
Instead of being given a credit card-style pass for the 2015/16, juniors will be given a red replica shirt which will allow them to get into home games for free.
The shirts will cost £15 and Town chairman Peter Smurthwaite said: “When I travel around Bridlington on a weekend I never see any children wearing a Bridlington Town football shirt so it is a situation I would like to change.
“We are now able to offer free entry for all our home league games to any child who attends the games wearing their Bridlington Town shirt for the current season.
“When you consider how much you have to pay for professional football club shirts this is a very good offer but is more about supporting your local club for children who will be our fans of the future.”
The offer is open to anyone who is 12 or under and parents can register by Emailing their child’s name, address, contact telephone number and shirt size to secretary@bridtownafc.com or dom@bridtownafc.com or by delivering the details to the Seasiders Bar, at the Queensgate stadium.