Sat 29th March: Division 1 West
Bridon Ropes 2
J.Doherty
L.Thomas
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Tudor Sports 1
?
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Bridon knew that they had to get a result from this game and the pre match team talk stressed that fact.
Bridon's team again required tinkering.
Missing were Onasanya (Holiday), Crook & Haxell (Injuries) and Roberts (Illness).
Returning were Scott & D Scotter (Holiday), M Scotter (Injury), Martin (Illness) and Northover (Work).
The sight of Scotter donning the goalkeepers top was a glad one as it meant Bridon finally had an established custodian between the posts for the first time in three games!
After a season blighted with injuries and unavailability a few changes has become par for the course at Bridon this year!
D Scotter, M Scotter, Scott and Northover replaced Kelly, Drysdale, Roberts and Crook in the starting line up.
The surprise of the day was the Tudor Management's decision to not start leading marksmen Glen McTaggart.
Now I'm not sure why this decision was made and being Glen is a familiar face at the Meridian Sports Ground I'm sure he would have wanted to start the game!
The game started in some poor weather conditions but again Bridon were the better side.
Tudor had a couple of half chances but Bridon dominated and missed a number of opportunities to take the lead.
It wasn't until midway through the half when the deadlock was broken.
A good move starting down the left saw the ball worked up field and a cross field ball found Doherty.
Doherty controlled the ball and beat the keeper with a sublime finish into the far corner to put the hosts one up.
Doherty had another opportunity to find the back of the net but he snatched at a shot which rolled just wide with the keeper rooted to his spot.
Now we've all seen Thomas start on a promising mazy run that appears to be going somewhere only to see him delay, allow the defender to get back and get tackled.Not this time!
The mercurial Thomas decided that he was going to make an impact on this game.
He picked up the ball around the half way line and set off on a mazy dribble that saw him beat a couple of men before looking up and finding the top right hand corner of the net from about 25 yards out on the left hand side of the pitch!
Half time came and went and Tudor had to change keeper due to a groin strain.
McTaggart was also introduced at the interval as Tudor seemed unlikely to score.
The game restarted and Bridon continued as the better side although Tudor seemed to have a bit more about them in this half.
Bridon continued to push and could have put this game to bed long before the 90 minutes were up.
Northover had four excellent opportunities to increase the score line but saw the keeper, side netting and ball fly over the bar!
The controversial point of the game arrived midway through the half.
Thomas again on a mission beat a few players and made his way into the penalty area.
It was there that he was charged to the floor in what looked a dead cert penalty.
After the incident there was a melee which saw a few irate players getting involved in a push and shove competition.
The referee decided that it wasn't a penalty but also decided that Thomas and Tudor keeper number 2 had done enough to end their participation in today's game and sent them both off.
From here the game changed and was more end to end but without any clear cut chances to note.
With about ten minutes to play a free kick was awarded on the near side.
Tudor swung the ball into the box and a player rose to head home.
That was the first goal Bridon had conceded this month and was disappointing that we had allowed Tudor a goal considering that they hadn't really tested Scotter throughout the game.
The game ended to Bridon's delight and to Tudor's disappointment.
Bridon fully deserved the three points as they did in their previous encounter with Tudor. The only difference is that they took them on this occasion!
MD - Bridon Ropes FC |
