Conference South

Bridgwater Men’s 1st 3, Taunton Vale 2nd 1

THE match started very evenly, but it was Taunton Vale who had the first chances at goal, forcing a couple of penalty corners but goalkeeper Pete Saunders was in fine early form. 

The first goal of the game was put away by Lott after he was put through on goal by Dyte - his first shot was well saved by the Vale goalkeeper but fortunately rebounded to Gale who passed to Lott to slot into the empty goal.

With five minutes to go the home side doubled their lead. An aerial ball from Upham was taken down by Lott who pushed the ball onto the advancing Taylor who drove into the ‘D’, squared the ball and Sibley was there to apply the finish. Bridgwater weren’t done in the half and almost made it 3-0, when Ash Woolmington found Harry Stephenson on the right hand side - his hit into the ‘D’ somehow made its way to the back post but Pigden couldn’t apply the finish. Within five minutes of the restart it was 3-0.

A quickly taken free hit by Sullivan laid the ball off to Sibley in the ‘D’ and his reverse stick shot hit the post and fortunately went straight to Lott who was in the right place at the right time. Vale began to create opportunities and after Bridgwater were reduced to nine men, they pulled a goal back.

Bridgwater weathered the storm and take 15 points from their matches at the halfway point of the season.

Man of the match was Matt Upham.

South East 1

Teign 1st 3, Bridgwater Men’s 2nd 1

THE Men’s 2nds travelled to Exeter looking to get a good result against top of the table Teign but the home side started better and took the 1-0.

That soon became 2-0 as Teign pressed hard and despite the midfield of Matt Slocombe, Duncan Bond and Phil Morrish working tirelessly to try and get hold of the ball and assert themselves in the game it was the visitors who deflated Bridgwater with a third goal.

The second half saw Bridgwater’s persistence pay off and after chances for both Payne and Turvey up front, they pulled a goal back thanks to Steve Turvey who scored from Mike Eele’s penalty corner.

But despite further chances, they ere unable to close the gap any more. Man of the match went to Bayley Chatwin

South East 2

Bridgwater Men’s 3rd 1, Teign 2nd 2

BRIDGWATER started brightly and put pressure on the Teign defence with the breakthrough coming after 15 minutes as Willis played a series of 1-2 passes with Burland before slipping the ball into an empty goal.

Several more opportunities came and went for Bridgwater but no second goal would come, and then disaster struck.

Teign won a free hit and a hopeful ball was played forward into the D where the Teign forward blindly swung at the ball to equaliser in the bottom corner.

At the start of the second half, Teign got the winner with a breakaway goal and despite several attempts at goal from Bridgwater they could not find an equaliser.

South East 3

Ashmoor 3rd 0, Bridgwater Men’s 4th 5

IT took 15 minutes to break the deadlock but eventually Hicks found an opportunity to score before Cook then got onto the scoresheet, as a well worked short corner was deflected in from Hicks.

As Pigden created space down the left a good move through the middle was rifled into the net by Davidge.

The second half started much the same as the first finished with Bridgwater on top but Ashmoor again managed to push and play well despite being mismatched in the size and height departments.

Everything was tidied up at the back with strong performances from the back line. As Bridgwater looked to press Davidge scored another goal with his hat-trick rounded off with a powerful strike from another short corner.

Man of the match was Davidge.

South East 3

Bridgwater Men’s 5th 3, Isca 6th 6

ISCA took the lead, but Bridgwater equalised when Dave Dosson got on the end of one of the right wing crosses from Ben Squires.

The visitors scored two more before Bridgwater pulled one back just before half time when George Puplett hit a rebound shot home.

ISCA extended their lead in the second half, but Bridgwater again came back, with Dave Dosson scoring his second but it wasn’t enough and they fell to a 6-3 defeat.

Bridgwater's Man of the Match was Alan Baldwin.