Sherburn 16.04.08

Bridge Second Best at Sherburn

A makeshift Boroughbridge side had plenty of possession but ultimately were comprehensively outclassed by a young Sherburn side in this West Yorkshire Premier League clash. Their clinical finishing, pinpoint passing and excellent off the ball movement was in stark contrast to ‘Bridge, who were mostly static and inept in front of goal. The home side took the lead in the 9th minute when Alex Booth found himself in plenty of space from a precise cross and was able to turn and pick his spot without any pressure from the visitors. A strong appeal for a penalty following a handball in the Sherburn area was turned down, but it was unlikely that it would have altered the result. ‘Bridge had only a handful of goal attempts during the game, and they were mostly inaccurate. A Ben Darville cross found Paul Smith on 20 minutes but he could only fire over the bar, and this was a costly miss as almost immediately after, Booth picked up a long cross pitch ball on the left side of the area, turned Steve Paffett and placed a sweet looping ball across the goal into the top right hand corner leaving Alastair Hogg stranded. Jamie Wainwright effectively ended the contest when he added the third on the half hour with a 20 yard drive, and on the stroke of half time Scott Williams drove a shot across the face of the goal to leave the visitors staring at a very heavy defeat. Thankfully Sherburn seemed to sit back a little after the break, and a degree of untidiness came into their attack play, allowing several good chances to go begging. Eagling (twice) and Darville both had ‘Bridge’s best efforts of the half, but Booth wrapped up the evening’s scoring on 78 minutes when he was given a free header from 6 yards. There was little to praise in the visitor’s performance, and Tony Coles will hope that he can call on several regulars who were unable to play due to other commitments when Aberford visit Aldborough Road next week.