Bridges denied all three points at the death

A late equaliser brought a halt to Bridges’ recent run of successes, but this was a game that both sides could have won and probably neither deserved to lose. Bridges had the better chances, but Sittingbourne produced some nice moves of their own without testing Mitch Bromage very often. And this was largely due to the brilliance at the heart of the home defence by Tadley Bromage and Ryan Brackpool, who seemed to win everything both in the air and on the floor.

An early chance fell to Dan Perry after good work by Michael Wilson and Charlie Lambert, and after twelve minutes Jamie Crellin’s side went ahead. Curtis Gayler started the move before the ball fell to Perry, whose shot hit the far post and was then tucked in by Charlie Lambert, who later had breathing problems which led to him missing the second half.

Brannon O’Neill hit a post after getting the ball out of his feet and Camron Lawson saw a shot knocked down, whilst a free kick by Harry Stannard was superbly tipped over by Mitch Bromage as Sittingbourne had a good spell of their own. Daniel Taylor had a shot blocked and Tyler Anderson fired just over, and Bridges welcomed the half time whistle.

Noel Leighton came on for the second half and proved a nuisance to the visitors with plenty of nice flicks on with his head and some neat dribbling skills. Twice he was on target with good efforts on the turn, one of which was only half saved by Charles Taylor and put into the net by the predatory Perry only for the ‘goal’ to be ruled offside.

Wilson fired just over after some neat work inside the box as four defenders tried to halt his progress, and most in the ground were surprised when Leighton’s cross to Perry ended with his instant volley going the wrong side of the post. Leighton came close again and Tadley Bromage headed over the bar following one of Brackpool’s inviting long throws.

But with just two minutes of normal time remaining, substitute James Witt found time and space on the left and his low cross was met by Kane Rowland at the far post, both goals therefore being netted from less than a yard out!

Bridges Man of the Match – Tadley Bromage.

Bridges face a potentially tough test this Saturday when they visit runaway League leaders hastings United.

			Home				Away				Total
			P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
	1	Hastings United	15	11	1	3	16	12	1	3	31	23	2	6	69	30	+39	71
	2	Ashford United	16	10	3	3	15	9	1	5	31	19	4	8	65	36	+29	61
	3	Ramsgate	15	9	3	3	15	9	2	4	30	18	5	7	67	36	+31	59
	4	Haywards Heath Town	15	9	2	4	16	8	5	3	31	17	7	7	45	28	+17	58
	5	Cray Valley PM	16	8	4	4	15	8	4	3	31	16	8	7	59	37	+22	56
	6	Herne Bay	16	10	2	4	14	6	4	4	30	16	6	8	48	30	+18	54
	7	Burgess Hill Town	16	8	4	4	15	6	2	7	31	14	6	11	45	40	+5	48
	8	Sittingbourne	15	9	2	4	16	5	3	8	31	14	5	12	44	38	+6	47
	9	VCD Athletic	16	7	4	5	15	6	3	6	31	13	7	11	56	39	+17	46
	10	Chichester City	16	9	2	5	14	3	5	6	30	12	7	11	39	31	+8	43
	11	Corinthian	16	6	6	4	14	5	3	6	30	11	9	10	36	36	0	42
	12	Three Bridges	16	5	5	6	15	5	6	4	31	10	11	10	52	58	-6	41
	13	Faversham Town	14	7	2	5	15	2	3	10	29	9	5	15	31	46	-15	32
	14	Whitehawk	14	3	5	6	16	4	5	7	30	7	10	13	33	43	-10	31
	15	Lancing	15	5	3	7	16	3	4	9	31	8	7	16	29	52	-23	31
	16	Hythe Town	16	3	3	10	15	5	3	7	31	8	6	17	34	67	-33	30
	17	East Grinstead Town	15	5	5	5	16	2	3	11	31	7	8	16	27	57	-30	29
	18	Sevenoaks Town	15	5	1	9	16	3	2	11	31	8	3	20	36	63	-27	27
	19	Phoenix Sports	15	3	2	10	16	4	3	9	31	7	5	19	31	52	-21	26
	20	Whitstable Town	14	2	4	8	16	4	1	11	30	6	5	19	33	60	-27	23