Southern League Div One S and W

Bridgwater Town 1, Taunton Town 2

Kerry Miller at Fairfax Park

SUCH are the harsh cruelties of semi-professional football that with one involuntary nod of the ball three minutes into injury time, Bridgwater Town skipper Josh White sent his side to defeat and joint bottom in the Southern League Div One S and W, while sending neighbours Taunton Town joint top.

It was the almost inevitable conclusion to a match which took a long while to get going but in the end provided the 500 plus crowd with plenty of talking points.

Town arrived at Fairfax Park on the back of a stunning 3-2 victory on Saturday over AFC Totton while Bridgwater were spanked 7-2 down at Winchester City and some predicted a similar score but they were miles off the truth.

Paul West’s side were outplayed for a fair part of the match but stayed with Town - and when substitute Reeko Best stunned the visiting fans with an equaliser 12 minutes from time, they went for the winner and what had been a solid defence began to creak under the powerful presence of twin strikers Ross McNab and Joe Bushin.

With both teams going for the winner, deep into injury time Town substitute Craig Veal had a shot cleared off the line, but moments later skipper Jamie Price got to the dead ball line before squaring the ball and opposite skipper White could only guide it apologetically into the net to cue wild celebrations.

Bridgy had begun the game in good shape with Bushin testing Lloyd Irish in the Town goal but at the other end Josh Klein-Davies was causing problems on the back of his double strike on Saturday and his cross was nodded onto the bar by Jordan Rogers.

Home keeper Jake Viney did well to smother Rogers as he bore down on goal on the half hour but the hardest worker on the pitch was referee Edward Pidduck who did well to keep his notebook free of any names in a first half which was fractious without being ugly.

With many of the players having turned out for both sides it was not surprising that the level of commitment stopped just short of the mark although Shaun Anthony rode his luck on more than one occasion.

After the break Harry Horton’s snap shot was wide after a fine move, before White finally found his way into the book after clattering Josh Wadham.

Klein-Davies then shot just wide after a clever turn, but it mattered little as in the next attack Taunton took the lead.

Jak Martin went down injured and an inch perfect pass around his prone body let in Rogers who made no mistake from 18 yards just short of the hour mark.

Veal was then introduced for the struggling Klein-Davies and Taunton began to play some slick passing phases and using the flanks were always dangerous, while Bridgwater’s more direct approach to McNab and Bushin could have paid dividends on another day.

Rogers’ crashing drive came back off the bar which should have wrapped up the win, but a minute later a quick move out on the left saw Best cut in and strike a low drive between Irish and his near post for what was a surprise equaliser.

With expectations and temperatures rising substitute Liam McCaughey’s reckless swipe at Wadham provoked a flare up which mercifully came to nothing more than a single booking - and after Veal’s shot was cleared, White’s desperate intervention gifted Taunton the points at the end of what has been a painful first few days of the new campaign for Bridgwater but an exciting one further down the A38.