Sports Report - Great Wakering Rovers 4 Hullbridge Sports 1

In my match preview, I hinted at the firepower in the GWR squad with several players on a fair number of goals, and unfortunately for The Bridge that trend continued at Burroughs Park on Tuesday night with Wakering hitting four. A trend that also continued was The Bridge’s losing streak that stretched to six straight defeats and the season can't end quickly enough for the lads in Blue and White as things go from bad to worse.

GWR have the luxury of some prolific scorers in their line-up; Callum Boylan, Harry Talbot, and Tony Martin regularly hit the back of the net but it was Dom Locke who scored their opening goal although Martin did score in the second half. For The Bridge, we have been trying to find a prolific scorer or partnership for most of the season and this time out Dad and Son Asamoah were paired up front to try to add our own firepower. Even before the game kicked off though, things were not going well as Adam Topley was replaced by Jon Evans in the starting line-up with Adam having a problem in the warm-up.

One thing you can do without when things are not going your way are fluke goals but The Bridge were on the end of one of these when former Bridge man Jake Gordon’s cross somehow flew into the Hullbridge net to make the score 2-1 to GWR before half-time.

Before that, however, it had all started quite well with The Bridge taking an early lead just a couple of minutes after kick-off. Sheri Artmeladze attacked GWR down the left-hand side before his cross into the box found Jon Evans whose first touch was good and his second even better as he volleyed into the top corner. At last, The Bridge had found the net after five games without doing so.

The joy was short-lived though, as just three minutes later Dom Locke levelled as Harry Talbot also attacked from the left, although this time Hullbridge’s, and squared a ball to Dom who finished well to even the match.

For the remainder of the half, The Bridge created the better chances but couldn't add to their tally and this has been a problem for The Bridge of late and is usually followed by a goal conceded.

Just three minutes before half-time that’s exactly what happened. Jake Gordon had replaced the injured Hafeez Elegushi and, when he received the ball out wide with his back to goal, he turned and fired a cross into the box. When your luck is out things go against you and The Bridge’s luck was out on this occasion as the ball flew over Bradley Davison and into the far corner of the net. Maybe underserved but, deserved or not, the home side went into the break 2-1 up.

Hullbridge would have been hopeful of getting back on terms after a decent first half but that changed virtually from the kick-off when centre-half Harrison Topliss glanced a header into the far corner for 3-1. Harrison avoided a booking by not taking his shirt off in celebration and remained Harrison but not topless (alright, I know!).

Hullbridge continued to have most of the ball with GWR playing on the counter and, once again, for The Bridge it was a tale of missed opportunities. GWR were looking dangerous playing that counter-attacking style and, inevitably, as The Bridge pushed for the goal to get them back in the game, the home side found goal number four. Substitute Tony Martin doesn’t usually need an invitation to get on the scoresheet and, with around twelve minutes left, he broke through The Bridge defence and rounded keeper Bradley Davison to slot home goal number four.

It wasn’t really a 4-1 game but that damaging combination of missed chances and defensive mishaps (not sure that’s the right word but I couldn’t come up with a better one) had, once again, cost The Bridge the game. Credit to Wakering though, who were at it despite distractions of the FA Vase semi-final 2nd leg and they are still in with a chance of the play-offs with all those games in hand. For GWR this could be a fantastic season, for The Bridge, as I said, it can’t end quickly enough but as soon as it does, we won’t be able to wait for it to start all over again, because that's football, and that’s what it does to you… but as always…

Called into the starting line-up after a problem in the warm-up for Adam Topley, Jon wasted little time in making an impact with a stunning volleyed goal after two minutes. After that, Jon was his usual industrious self, working for the team in his usual style and that’s good enough for MOM on another tough night for The Bridge.