ENGLAND COLLEGES FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION CATEGORY 2 SOUTH-WEST LEAGUE

Team BC Elite Men’s Football 3, Exeter College 1

TEAM BC Elite put in their best performance of the season to comfortably beat Exeter College and keep their title hopes alive.

Bridgwater were on top from the off with wide players Charlie Bridges and Owen Sellick causing the Exeter back line problems on a regular basis.

The home side went close to opening the scoring within the early minutes when Kye Whelan’s excellent corner whipped across the face of the goal but no one was on hand to turn the ball home.

Bridgwater took a deserved lead 15 minutes in when powerful forward Stan Smith was bundled over in the box and captain arry Horton stepped up to confidently blast home the resultant penalty.

Exeter looked dangerous on the break but the centre back pairing of Charlie White and Ross Panes were in outstanding form and never looked in any real trouble during the first-half.

Bridgwater doubled their advantage when Smith powered his way through the Exeter defence and finished well from a tight angle.

Bridgwater were indebted to goalkeeper Josh Hayward shortly after extending their advantage when he somehow managed to tip the ball on to the bar from a close range header.

The points were sealed with 20 minutes left when Bridgwater scored one of their best goals of the season after excellent work from left back Kye Whelan fed forward Owen Sellick, whose unstoppable volley left the goalkeeper with no chance.

Exeter clinched a consolation goal with seconds remaining when Bridgwater switched off and the Exeter forward ghosted in from the edge of the box to nod the ball past goalkeeper Hayward.

Head coach Luke Buckingham said: “The players were absolutely outstanding today and we thoroughly deserved the result.

“We had a few difficult weeks mid-season but the players have shown exceptional character to bounce back and keep us in contention for the league title.

“We are now dependent on results elsewhere but we are looking forward to our final game of the season versus Richard Huish.”