BRIGG TO BE VISITED BY GRIMSBY TOWN FANS AHEAD OF SCUNTHORPE UNITED DERBY

A good number of Grimsby Town football fans are planning to call in Brigg on their way to the derby game against Scunthorpe United at the Sands Venue Stadium (formerly Glanford Park) on Saturday - March 7.
Some of our pubs and fast food outlets will be in their sights as a refreshment stop is made ahead of the all-ticket match, whose kick-off time has been brought forward to 1pm - standard practice for local derby games these days.
So expect to see Mariners supporters, wearing the historic club's black and white colours, in the town centre from mid-morning on Saturday.
Read Humberside Police's message to fans here...
Scunthorpe United were sponsored by the Brigg-based borough council for some years after moving to the newly-built Glanford Park ground in the late 1980s.
Brigg's Barrie Horstead, Mick Atkin and Matt Sparrow played for the Iron in various decades and took part in a number of derby games.
Scunthorpe fans living in Brigg today probably outnumber Grimsby followers four to one - a ratio that has changed little since the 1960s.
With Grimsby and Scunthorpe not being far apart in the league table, a close encounter may be expected on Saturday.
However, this was not the case in August 1971 when Matt Tees - pictured above at Brigg Town's Hawthorns ground - netted a hat-trick for the Mariners as they defeated the Iron 4-1 in the opening game of the season. Both sides went on to gain promotion, Grimsby as champions and Scunthorpe in fourth place.
We recall travelling to that August derby at Blundell Park aboard a Daisy Bus, from Broughton, provided by the Brigg Branch of the Grimsby Town Supporters' Club. It picked up in Cary Lane and outside the cemetery on Wrawby Road. More football fans climbed aboard in Wrawby, Barnetby, Bigby, Owmby, Searby, Grasby (near the Cross Keys pub) and Keelby.
Surprisingly, there was nothing similar provided in Brigg in the 1970s for Scunthorpe United fans to get to home matches, then still being played at the Old Show Ground, off Doncaster Road. 
On the right of our picture, taken near the old wooden changing rooms at the Hawthorns in the early 1970s, is Alec King. He had a spell as Grimsby Town's commercial manager and for a time had a bookmaker's shop in Brigg town centre - premises on Wrawby Street occupied today by Parris Watson's Deli & Diner.