BOROUGHBRIDGE 2 BARDSEY 3
Looking to take some of the confidence gained from their recent cup games into this fixture Bridge found themselves with a mountain to climb by half time. They got off to the worst possible start as Steve Kirby's attempted clearance was knocked down by Mike Tony (many thought with his hand) who then went on unchallenged to fire past Alistair Hogg. Playing against a strong wind Bardsey seemed more comfortable with the conditions and they went further ahead on 26 minutes as an unmarked Tony Hilton headed home a Ben Grimston cross. Survival to the break was now important for Bridge but on the stroke of half time Rich Donohoe failed to deal with Steve Tovey's crossfield pass leaving Gareth Miller to add a third. An early goal was a must for Bridge and Dave Coffey obliged as he capitalised on a Chris Sinclair error to throw Bridge a lifeline three minutes into the second half. Buoyed by this early success Bridge began to pose some problems to their visitors but failed to exploit a couple of opportunities and as the game levelled out again Hogg had to produce three fines saves to prevent Bardsey increasing their lead. With time running out Jamie Thompson gave the home side a glimmer of hope with an own goal but then when Bridge had a free kick with virtually the last kick of the game they fluffed their lines.
MOM M HUTCHINSON