North Devon 0, Bridgwater 1st XI 5

HALF-WAY through the season and Bridgwater find themselves in second place.

To maintain this position into the New Year, Bridgwater had a tough trip to North Devon who had surprised a lot of teams with their direct one-touch style of play.

With this style in mind, Bridgy set about their own game plan to negate these tactics. Throughout the game, Bridgy stuck to the game plan and frustrated North Devon.

The score going into half time was 2-0 with Tom Lott getting his first from a rebound off of the very good shot stopping keeper with Matt Upham grabbing the second from a rebounded short corner.

A great first-half performance left Bridgy in a great position but they knew they had to come out strong in the second half and that is exactly what happened.

They scored three goals in the second half, all by Lott, who finished with four.

The first was a hard short corner strike that was never going to be stopped, the second a fine solo effort taking on the Devon defence before slotting home – and the third of the half came from a superb moving finishing with Lott beating the keeper from the top of the D.

Bridgwater D 1, Ashmoor C 2

BRIDGWATER D travelled to Exeter without their talismanic captain Steve Morrish for the first time this season.

The team was a combination of youth and experience, and any doubts about the younger players were dispelled soon after the start.

Bridgwater opened the scoring, with a rebounded shot reversed into the net by Geoff Banham, who was supporting the forwards from midfield.

After a period of pressure and a couple of penalty corners, it was Ashmoor who scored next, with a reverse hit deflected off a defender to elude Brandon Durkin in the Bridgwater goal, who had seemed unbeatable up to then.

With players pushed forward, the Bridgwater defence was exposed to fast breakaway attacks from the young Ashmoor forwards.

Tom Syvret put in some key tackles, dropping back in support of Salt overlapping from right back.

Time and time again, though, it was Harry Rose, looking every bit the composed and skilled defender, who made the last-ditch tackles to keep the scores level.

It needed a succession of saves from Durkin, and a last-ditch clearance off the line by Hicks, to keep the scores level.

With ten minutes to go, Ashmoor got the better of Bridgwater’s defence and managed to squeeze a low shot past Durkin to go ahead.

Bridgwater Men’s A 2, Swindon A 0

BRIDGWATER have waited for this game since the opening weekend of the season when they were beaten 6- 1 – no motivation was needed, just the chance to show their spirit.

Bridgwater started brightly and spent the opening period camped in the Swindon half the only disappointment being the 1-0 score line at half-time.

Bridgwater scoring from a penalty corner, captain Cullum converting.

The second half saw a more even game but Bridgwater extended their lead with the quality move of the game, a ball out of defence was moved on quickly and two passes later, Harry Stephenson found the back board.