Bridgwater Mens 4 Newent 3

LIAM Pigden scored twice as Bridgwater ended a run of three straight defeats with victory by the odd goal in seven against Newent.

Coach Ben Roberts decided to change formation and revert to a playing style that had delivered Bridgwater lots of goals in the opening matches of the season.

The new set-up started well, with Bridgwater scoring an early goal with a well worked move that led to Pigden finishing off at the back post.

Newent bounced back with an equaliser though, only about five minutes later.

Bridgwater reacted to really well, and pressed hard, adding three more goals without conceding further before the half time break, taking a 4-1 lead into the half time team talk.

The Bridgwater team of earlier in the season would have dominated the second half and shut Newent out, but there was a dip in concentration and energy, and Bridgwater lost their composure, letting Newent back into the game and soon they were within a single goal at 4-3. This did shake Bridgwater and they reverted to their earlier attacking style, once again posing a threat.

A really good move resulted in the umpires awarding a penalty stroke and up stepped Ben Rogers to coolly slot away.

A late yellow card left Bridgwater down to ten players for the last five minutes of the game, but some determined cover and commitment enabled them to see out a well-deserved win, moving them moved further away from relegation zone.

Many thanks to Match Ball Sponsors Bridgwater Mowers.

Taunton Vale 2nd 3 Bridgwater Ladies 1st 0

Bridgwater were beaten by Taunton Vale on Saturday in their traditional local derby.

From the start Bridgwater were strong in their tackles, but Taunton Vale moved the ball around at a quick pace.

Taunton Vale won several penalty corners, but these were dealt with by a combination of Bridgwater's defence and goalkeeper.

It was a Taunton Vale attack that resulted on a one-on-one situation and led to the opening goal.

In the second half, Taunton Vale stepped up the pace, and their second goal came from a three-on-one overload of the Bridgwater keeper.

It was while Bridgwater were pushing forward that Taunton Vale took the opportunity to score the third, and the last goal of the game.

Bridgwater Mens 3rd 5 Bristol and West 4th 3

TOM Lott scored a second successive hat-trick for Bridgwater III as they beat Bristol and West IV 5-3 on Saturday.

Bridgwater didn’t have things all their own way and went behind early on.

It fell to Lott to pull the Bridgwater team out of their slump, but a second goal was conceded after the break.

It was Ben Roberts who rifled a ball in via an excellent deflection by Simon Burland to level the scores.

This seemed to give the team a lift, and shortly after, Lott beat a couple of players before rounding the goalkeeper and finishing.

A driven drag flick from Dan Buller was only stopped by an opponent’s body and the resulting deflection was poked across the line by Marcus Blyth.

Feeling comfortable with a two goal lead Bridgwater started to play some more fluid hockey, and another goal for Lott followed to complete his hat-trick.

Bristol and West did claw another goal back before the end of the game, but Bridgwater completed an excellent victory nonetheless with a good battling performance all round.

ISCA 6th 3 Bridgwater Mens 5th 0

Bridgwater slumped to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of an experienced ISCA side.

The game started with neither team looking to concede, but it was ISCA who were to create the best early chance, needing Bridgwater keeper Rob Wood to make a fine save.

After a goalless first-half, ISCA pulled away and a small mistake at the back allowed the ISCA striker to take the lead.

With the weather setting in, ISCA scored again another goal – and added a third into an empty net.