Boss frustrated as AFC Mansfield wait for first win on road

Manager Matt Chatfield, who was frustrated by AFC Mansfield's defeat at Bridlington Town.

A 1-0 defeat on the East Yorkshire coast left the Bulls still winless on the road and stuck in the bottom three of the Toolstation Northern Counties East League, Premier Division.

But Chatfield said: “With the chances we created, we probably deserved all three points.

“Fair play to Bridlington, who defended well. But their ‘keeper has made some outrageous saves, and they’ve really thrown their bodies on the line.

“We have a young side, but they’re talented and they have got to be braver at times. If we’d won the game, I’d be praising them, saying how good we looked and what a valuable performance it was.

“But we didn’t. We didn’t score, and that’s the be-all and end-all. Bridlington scored when it mattered.”

In an end-to-end spectacle, watched by a crowd of 179, that solitary goal came in the 18th minute when the Seasiders’ top scorer, Joe McFayden, nodded home the simplest of chances from close range after a cross from the right.

Ross Duggan responded for AFC with two efforts that struck a post within as many minutes, the second a lob over goalkeeper James Hitchcock.

Grant Ryan’s one-on-one effort was also blocked by the ‘keeper, who pulled off more crucial stops in the second period to deny Jordan Annable and Duggan.

Bridlington did have a couple of fine chances of their own, but the Bulls could have snatched a late leveller when Ryan headed Annable’s inch-perfect cross over the bar.