A Bridge Too Far

As the full time whistle blew, many of the young Bridges team were in tears as their promotion hopes were blown away by a strong Chichester side. Both sides had faced long journeys three days earlier for their semi finals, but Bridges often looked weary from their nine match winning run.

It could hardly have started worse for Bridges as the first attack by the visitors led to an opening goal in less than a minute. Defensive hesitation and an injury to Tresor Difika hardly helped as, after Jasper Sheik had pushed away one shot, JOSH CLACK sent the ball back goalwards and saw his shot nest in the far corner for a perfect start for City and their supporters.

Bridges responded with Kieran Magee making a good save from Noel Leighton, who then provided a telling cross that Nabeel Ghannam fired just over. Kevin Rivera made a great run but couldn’t get enough on his final shot, and these near misses were punished after 35 minutes when a long throw came to JOE CLARKE, whose volley was precise and lethal.

With Bridges having to push forward, they were again exposed after 41 minutes when early substitute Ethan Pritchard sent LLOYD ROWLATT through for number three.

Clack had a great early second half chance but was denied by Sheik, but on the hour a deep free kick from the right was met by skipper CONNOR CODY for the fourth. Bridges continued to battle against a well organised City defence with Rivera dragging one shot wide before forcing Magee to another good save.

But after 69 minutes another swift counter attack was finished by CLARKE to earn his side an Isthmian League Premier Division place next season, with City fans bursting onto the pitch to celebrate with their team.

			Home				Away				Total
			P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
	C	Cray Valley PM	19	11	7	1	19	18	1	0	38	29	8	1	103	32	+71	95
	2	Ramsgate	19	14	3	2	19	14	2	3	38	28	5	5	106	41	+65	89
	3	Sittingbourne	19	11	2	6	19	11	7	1	38	22	9	7	82	41	+41	75
	4	Three Bridges	19	13	3	3	19	9	4	6	38	22	7	9	98	68	+30	73
	5	Chichester City	19	10	1	8	19	11	5	3	38	21	6	11	83	43	+40	69
	6	Lancing	19	11	2	6	19	8	5	6	38	19	7	12	71	66	+5	64
	7	Sheppey United	19	10	3	6	19	8	4	7	38	18	7	13	76	57	+19	61
	8	Herne Bay	19	8	5	6	19	8	6	5	38	16	11	11	74	63	+11	59
	9	Broadbridge Heath	19	7	7	5	19	7	3	9	38	14	10	14	59	56	+3	52
	10	Sevenoaks Town	19	7	6	6	19	6	1	12	38	13	7	18	61	65	-4	46
	11	Ashford United	19	10	0	9	19	4	3	12	38	14	3	21	57	82	-25	45
	12	Burgess Hill Town	19	7	4	8	19	4	7	8	38	11	11	16	60	70	-10	44
	13	Hythe Town	19	4	6	9	19	8	2	9	38	12	8	18	54	71	-17	44
	14	Horndean	19	8	2	9	19	4	5	10	38	12	7	19	57	76	-19	43
	15	Merstham	19	7	4	8	19	4	4	11	38	11	8	19	58	72	-14	41
	16	Phoenix Sports	19	5	5	9	19	5	3	11	38	10	8	20	52	91	-39	38
	17	Littlehampton Town	19	6	5	8	19	4	2	13	38	10	7	21	49	76	-27	37
	18	East Grinstead Town	19	4	5	10	19	5	2	12	38	9	7	22	52	86	-34	34
	R	Beckenham Town	19	5	3	11	19	2	5	12	38	7	8	23	57	94	-37	29
	R	Erith & Belvedere	19	4	3	12	19	2	5	12	38	6	8	24	27	86	-59	26