Faversham Town vs Three Bridges | 26th March 2022

For the second game in a row, Bridges had a slow start to blame as they lost 3-1 away to Faversham. In all fairness to the away team, they were in the game for majority with possession and chances evenly shared, but a mix of horrible defending, not taking chances and an overzealous referee lead to another loss on the road.

Faversham started the better team and raced into a 2-0 lead within the first half an hour.

First Marcus Elliott scored after Tad Bromage and Brackpool failed to clear the ball, with the ex-Bridges striker hitting his shot into the ground and the ball looping over Mitch Bromage in slow motion before nestling in the back of the net.

Not long after that the home side added a second, with Charlie Dickens ghosting in unmarked at the front post and heading in from a corner.

The second goal conceded seemed to be a wake-up call for Bridges as they suddenly started putting some nice passages of play together. Kevin Rivera looked lively on his first start in a Bridges shirt and Dan Perry began finding spaces and getting shots off.

That pressure finally produced a goal, with Noel Leighton finding space in the Faversham box and getting a deft touch on the ball after good work from Joe Stone on the right hand side and Bridges had some hope of getting back in to the game just before the half-time whistle.

Moving in to the second half, and Tad Bromage had two identical chances in the opening stages, getting his head on two long throw-in’s into the box but both times his header went just over the bar.

It then seemed like Faversham were destined to extend their lead on the 55th minute when the referee adjudged that Joe Stone had pushed Oluwasemo in the box and he pointed to the spot. It seemed a soft decision and justice was served as Mitch Bromage saved his second penalty in two games, diving low to his left to save Harry Harding’s effort.

Bridges then had ample chances to get the equaliser, with Perry and O’Neill seeing shots blocked before Leighton’s header hit the bar from the resultant corner.

And of course just after that passage of play, Faversham got their third goal which appeared to kill the game off. Bridges had failed to clear from a set piece, Marcus Elliott put the ball back into the box and Harry Harding made amends from his penalty miss, latching on to a smart flick on to put the ball past Bromage.

Following that Joe Stone saw a header cleared off the line whilst Perry, Rivera and Wilson all missed half-decent chances, and it just seemed like as much as Bridges tried they weren’t going to find another goal.

To be fair it was Faversham who should have added to their tally, with Richardson seeing his lobbed shot somehow bounce over the bar with Bromage stranded and Oluwasemo then putting a header wide at the back post when it seemed easier to score!

With the game drawing to a close and out of reach, Bridges players started to get frustrated and the referee got particularly card happy and eventually a red card was brandished; Dan Perry being sent-off in injury time for dissent towards the official.

Bridges will be looking to get over this second loss in a row as they entertain second bottom Phoenix Sports at home on Saturday 2nd April.

Bridges Man of the Match: Joe Stone

			Home				Away				Total
			P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
	1	Hastings United	16	12	1	3	17	13	1	3	33	25	2	6	75	30	+45	77
	2	Ashford United	17	10	4	3	16	9	2	5	33	19	6	8	68	39	+29	63
	3	Cray Valley PM	16	8	4	4	17	10	4	3	33	18	8	7	64	40	+24	62
	4	Haywards Heath Town	17	10	2	5	16	8	5	3	33	18	7	8	49	31	+18	61
	5	Ramsgate	17	9	3	5	16	9	2	5	33	18	5	10	69	42	+27	59
	6	Herne Bay	17	10	2	5	16	7	4	5	33	17	6	10	55	34	+21	57
	7	Sittingbourne	16	9	3	4	17	6	3	8	33	15	6	12	46	39	+7	51
	8	Burgess Hill Town	16	8	4	4	17	7	2	8	33	15	6	12	48	43	+5	51
	9	Corinthian	17	6	6	5	16	7	3	6	33	13	9	11	42	38	+4	48
	10	VCD Athletic	16	7	4	5	17	6	4	7	33	13	8	12	58	44	+14	47
	11	Chichester City	16	9	2	5	16	4	6	6	32	13	8	11	45	33	+12	47
	12	Three Bridges	16	5	5	6	17	5	6	6	33	10	11	12	53	63	-10	41
	13	Faversham Town	17	9	2	6	15	2	3	10	32	11	5	16	35	50	-15	38
	14	Whitehawk	16	4	5	7	16	4	5	7	32	8	10	14	35	45	-10	34
	15	Hythe Town	16	3	3	10	17	6	4	7	33	9	7	17	36	67	-31	34
	16	Sevenoaks Town	16	6	1	9	17	4	2	11	33	10	3	20	41	64	-23	33
	17	Lancing	17	5	4	8	16	3	4	9	33	8	8	17	31	59	-28	32
	18	East Grinstead Town	17	6	5	6	16	2	3	11	33	8	8	17	30	63	-33	32
	19	Phoenix Sports	17	3	3	11	16	4	3	9	33	7	6	20	31	56	-25	27
	20	Whitstable Town	15	2	4	9	17	4	1	12	32	6	5	21	33	64	-31	23