North Ferriby VS Hull City

North Ferriby FC 1 Hull City Academy 3 

By Ashley Walker 

North Ferriby FC continued their preparation for the Northern Counties East League Division One season but went down to a 3-1 defeat in the annual Billy Bly trophy game against a young Hull City Academy side.  

Manager Chris Bolder was pleased with how the game went, except the result but it isn’t always about that as he said: “It was a great workout for us and we have said time and time again in pre-season friendlies it is not about the result but we want to win every game we play and our objectives but tonight we didn’t achieve our objective.  

“For us it was a very pleasing night and Hull City probably deserved the victory as I thought they were very strong and moved the ball exceptionally well. We managed to get everyone at least 45 minutes, some of them maybe though they had played 90 minutes after 45 with the amount of ground they had to cover. It was pleasing to see our fitness levels were okay and it is going to stand us in good stead moving forward.” 

It was the visitors who made the brighter start to the game. The Tigers showed good composure on the ball and passed it around well. After two minutes, the first real chance fell to Hull City right back Tom Nixon who saw his shot blocked by Villagers captain Niall Tilsley. A couple of minutes later the visitors had another attempt. This time Billy Leach could not get control of a fantastic ball through and Ferriby keeper Jordan Douglas gathered the ball safely.  

It wasn’t until the tenth minute that Ferriby had their first shot on goal. Levi Tarbotton sent an ambitious effort high and wide.  

The first real drama of the game occurred after twenty-two minutes. After good football by the visitors a shot by Billy Leach hit the hand of Levi Tarbotton. McCauley Snelgrove stepped up for the Tigers but saw his penalty saved by Jordan Douglas. Led by Iwan Heeley and Louis Kirk, it was after this scare that the Villagers started to get a foothold in the game.  

After twenty seven minutes the deadlock was broken. From a corner, Iwan Heeley sent a cross towards the back post where Levi Tarbotton headed an effort towards goal. His header made it across the line despite the best efforts of a Hull City defender.  

The visitors nearly answered straight away. Josh Hinds couldn’t connect with a great ball across the box from City captain Matty Jacob.  

Two minutes later the visitors equalised. A fantastic ball split the Ferriby defence and Louis Beckett found himself one on one with Jordan Douglas. The Ferriby keeper got a hand to the shot, but it wasn’t enough as the ball trickled into the goal.  

The last great chance of the first half fell to the hosts. Trialist B found himself with a free header from a corner which harmlessly went over the bar.  

The second half picked up where the first half left off. The first chance of the half fell to the visitors. Louis Beckett sent a ball over the Ferriby defence and found McCauley Snelgrove. The winger saw his shot hit the roof of the Ferriby net after managing to get his shot over Jordan Douglas.  

The Villagers had their first chance of the half not long after. A great cross by Jamie Forrester found the head of fellow substitute Tom Corner. The strikers’ effort was straight at Hull keeper David Robson. Two Ferriby substitutes who showed promise when they came on were Joel Shortland and Jamie Forrester. They played some troubling balls over the top of the Hull City defence. The aforementioned Shortland had an effort from range which just whistled past the Hull City goal. Just before the hour mark Trialist  C was caught in possession by a Hull City attacker. Billy Leech found himself one on one with Jordan Douglas who produced a great save to deny the winger.  

Five minutes later, the Ferriby goal was under threat again. This time Snelgrove found himself in on goal and saw his attempt go straight into the arms of Jordan Douglas. It wasn’t long before Snelgrove was finally rewarded for his efforts. Poor defending from the hosts saw the winger through on goal yest again and this time he cleverly placed his shot past Jordan Douglas and into the opposite corner.  

The Villagers nearly responded from the restart. Tom Corner hit a powerful effort from outside the area which hit the visitors side netting. In the last 10 minutes the tempo of the game started to drift away due to the stop start nature of the amount of substitutes brought on. Ferriby had a couple of half chances courtesy of Jamie Forrester and Tom Corner.  

The visitors put the game to bed in the 90th minute. A ball over the top from keeper Robson evaded all Ferriby defenders and landed at the feet of the impressive Josh Hinds. Ben Leyland brought the striker down in the area and was shown a red card for the challenge. Up stepped the fouled Hinds who slotted his penalty away in the opposite corner to which Jordan Douglas dived.  

All in all this was a great test for the Villagers and at times found the speed of the Hull City youngsters hard to deal with. The Villagers can take heart with how the midfield impressed, especially in the first half. Ferriby will continue their build up with a friendly on Saturday against Knaresborough Town at the Dransfield Stadium kick off 3 p.m.  

North Ferriby: Jordan Douglas, Liam Nelthorpe, Laurence McKay, Levi Tarbotton, Niall Tilsley, Iwan Heeley, Trialist A, Louis Kirk, Joe McFadyen, Trialist B, Danny Buttle Subs: Jamie Forrester, Lewis Exall, Tom Corner, Danny Emerton, Ben Leyland, Joel Shortland, Eddie Rogerson, Trialist C 

Hull City Academy: Harvey Cartwright, Tom Nixon, Matty Jacob, Oli Green, Jevon Mills, Trialist A, McCauley Snelgrove, Harry Wallis, Josh Hinds, Louis Beckett, Billy Leach Subs: David Robson, James Carr, Alfie Taylor, Sam Deacon, Glen Sani 

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Billy Bly Trophy match, North Ferriby v Hull City Academy

North Ferriby continue their pre-season build up to the Northern Counties East League Division One season when they host Hull City Academy for the Billy Bly Trophy at the Dransfield Stadium on Tuesday 13th July with a 7 p.m. kick off. 

Ferriby are the current holders of the trophy after a 2-1 win back in 2019 with goals from Eddie Birch and Tom Corner with one for Josh Ward in reply. The Villagers will look to continue where they left off on Saturday when they beat Northern Premier League opposition in Pickering Town 2-0 at home with goals from Danny Buttle and Joe McFadyen.

Manager Chris Bolder has a decent squad to choose from ahead of the game having had seven players missing on Saturday but will be able to recall some players when he said: “I had seven missing on Saturday but we should have Louis Kirk and Liam Nelthorpe back for Tuesday night.

“We will have a decent sized squad to pick from to continue with the positivity we have had from the game we played against Pickering. There were a lot of positives from the game but there are also some things to work on but the players are buying into what we are trying to achieve.”

Bolder has added three trialists to the squad ahead of the season and Bolder is happy with their progress when he added: “The young lads have been with us for nine training sessions and have done really well in the different types of training we have done and I am not surprised by their performances.”

Entry for the game will be £5 for adults and £3 concessions with a match programme available at £2. North Ferriby are at home again on Saturday to Knaresborough Town from the Northern Counties East League Premier Division.