Thompson hails “never-say-die” Bridlington

NPL Division One East 

Bridlington Town manager Mike Thompson

Mike Thompson says Bridlington Town’s “never-say-die attitude” is proving to be a lethal weapon.

Thompson has brought his own brand of Fergie-Time to Brid as the Seasiders keep pouncing at the death – particularly in the last three games.

“We scored a last minute equaliser against Dunston which I thought we were really worthy of,” Thompson told Non League Yorkshire.

“They had won five on the bounce and I thought we were really good.

“Last week against North Shields, I would have been pretty disgruntled if we hadn’t won the game.

“To get that one was important and it kept us moving forward.

“Tuesday night against Beverley was a potential banana skin and we scored two goals in the last 15 minutes to take it to penalties.

“The plus of it is that it is showing me that the team we have got won’t lie down.

“The feeling is good around the club and the boys are performing and we have a never-say-attitude.

“It is really positive. 

“Fitness levels is non-negotiable and I said in the summer that we would be one of the fittest teams around.

“You look at the Dunston game, North Shields game, Grimsby Borough game and it shows we can go to the 95th minute with the same energy levels when teams are starting to tire.

“But you wouldn’t get that if you didn’t have the drive to do so and I think we have.

“The boys fight for each other and they don’t know when they are beat at the moment.”

Eight-placed Bridlington have been one of the league’s surprise packages as they sit on the cusp of the play-offs.

They head to Stocksbridge Park Steels this weekend, knowing it is a big game for both sides.

Thompson says he is not shocked about how well his side have done.

“We’re comfortable where we are,” he said.

“We have the boys in a mindset where we know what we are capable of.

“I don’t think we have pulled up any trees yet.

“We have had one complete performance when we beat Lincoln United away from home when we were down to ten men after 25 minutes.

“Other than that we see improvement all over the place.

“We’re over the moon with our league position.

“Beating North Shields was massive because it put us above them in the league.

“We play Stocksbridge this weekend and three points puts us in the play-offs picture.

“We had targets for what we wanted to achieve and yes people from the outside will be looking in and thinking we are overachieving.

“As a collective we feel worthy of it and we feel we have put enough in place to be worthy of our league position.

“But it is extremely tight.

“I said at the start of the season that you could pick your top three and then throw a blanket over 12 or 13 teams who can beat each other.

“We have an important December and January because we play a lot of teams who I would suggest would be around the mid-table picture and the bottom three or four.

“If we keep our form up then I think we could really define where our season goes.”

Former Westella cult hero James Williamson has impressed Bridlington Town manager Mike Thompson

The return of ex-Westella cult hero James Williamson has also made a massive difference, according to Thompson.

“James was previously at Cleethorpes and he has been fantastic for us,” he said.

“He has really stabilised us at the back.

“For me we were shipping too many goals.

“James is playing alongside James Bulless and I feel really comfortable with the energy levels and quality levels we have there at centre-half.

“We shouldn’t see too much movement unless someone comes along who really improves us.

“We have a changing room that is very tight and I’ve turned down a few lads who asked questions about coming to Brid.

“There wasn’t anyone asking questions about coming to Bridlington Town in pre-season.

“The changing room is just as important as the quality and if someone isn’t going to fit in it isn’t going to work for us.

“We have Lewis Dennison coming back from long-term injury and he’s been a big miss for us.”

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