AFC Croydon Athletic vs Three Bridges 1st

Bridges started this game in the bottom four of the Isthmian South East division with only two wins out of 13 games so far this season, both of those coming away from home. A couple of late squad changes for Three Bridges didn’t appear to help the cause. AFC Croydon Athletic (Backed by Stormzy and Wilfried Zaha) were in mid table and following the appointment of former Crystal Palace caretaker manager, Keith Millen, during the week, would have been keen to make an impression on the new manager.

The weather conditions (thanks to Storm Bert) could only be described as dreich (a Scottish word for bleak) with driving rain and howling wind making conditions difficult for both teams and the 112 watching supporters that were huddled into the main stand.

Bridges started the game slowly and as early as the 4^th minute, Harvey Woollard had to have his wits about him to clear an AFC Croydon effort off the Bridges line. Bridges back line however were in a resolute mood with Billy Irving, Karim Kamhouri and Connor Hayden-Pickering all making important vital goal bound blocks to thwart the AFC Croydon attack. A few half chances fell for the Bridges attack in the first half that came to nothing but at the other end, Bridges goalkeeper, Luke Glover, was in fine form to make sure that the scores remained at 0-0 going into half time.

13 minutes into the second half and Glover was called into action again to make a double save from the AFC Croydon attack. The game (and weather conditions) slowly deteriorated with a couple of rarely seen foul throws being given by referee, Callum Peter, against AFC Croydon. Neither team had any real clear cut chances to score and both sets of supporters appeared to resign themselves to a share of the spoils. However, on 75 minutes the lively Kevin Rivera held the ball up well and beat the AFC Croydon defender in the box only to be clumsily pulled down giving the referee an easy decision of a penalty. Centre half, Ben Holden, stepped up and dispatched the penalty much to the delight of the travelling fans who had made their way up the A23.

Bridges have lost 19 points already this season from winning positions but they were determined to see this game out and claim all three points to take back to Crawley. Bridges work rate in this game was outstanding and they will look to take this positive into their next game on Tuesday night (26^th November) away to Herne Bay.

Bridges Man of the Match – Connor Hayden-Pickering

			Home				Away				Total
			P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
	1	Ramsgate	8	7	1	0	8	8	0	0	16	15	1	0	46	14	+32	46
	2	Beckenham Town	8	5	1	2	11	8	1	2	19	13	2	4	47	28	+19	41
	3	Sittingbourne	9	9	0	0	6	3	2	1	15	12	2	1	51	11	+40	38
	4	Margate	8	3	5	0	9	7	1	1	17	10	6	1	32	16	+16	36
	5	Burgess Hill Town	9	8	0	1	6	2	3	1	15	10	3	2	34	18	+16	33
	6	Sheppey United	8	6	0	2	8	4	2	2	16	10	2	4	33	21	+12	32
	7	Erith Town	9	5	2	2	9	3	4	2	18	8	6	4	33	19	+14	30
	8	Merstham	8	3	4	1	9	5	1	3	17	8	5	4	37	30	+7	29
	9	Deal Town	9	5	0	4	8	3	0	5	17	8	0	9	38	39	-1	24
	10	Eastbourne Town	8	3	1	4	7	4	0	3	15	7	1	7	25	29	-4	22
	11	AFC Croydon Athletic	9	3	4	2	7	1	4	2	16	4	8	4	27	24	+3	20
	12	Ashford United	7	3	1	3	8	3	1	4	15	6	2	7	27	31	-4	20
	13	Sevenoaks Town	9	2	4	3	8	3	1	4	17	5	5	7	29	39	-10	20
	14	Broadbridge Heath	8	2	1	5	7	4	0	3	15	6	1	8	24	28	-4	19
	15	East Grinstead Town	7	2	0	5	8	3	2	3	15	5	2	8	21	30	-9	17
	16	Littlehampton Town	7	2	1	4	9	2	2	5	16	4	3	9	30	37	-7	15
	17	Herne Bay	6	2	1	3	8	2	1	5	14	4	2	8	18	31	-13	14
	18	Hythe Town	8	4	0	4	9	0	1	8	17	4	1	12	16	44	-28	13
	19	Three Bridges	6	0	1	5	8	3	2	3	14	3	3	8	21	27	-6	12
	20	Lancing	9	2	0	7	7	0	1	6	16	2	1	13	11	32	-21	7
	21	Steyning Town Community	8	1	1	6	9	1	0	8	17	2	1	14	17	39	-22	7
	22	Phoenix Sports	9	2	1	6	8	0	0	8	17	2	1	14	14	44	-30	7