The Bridge took a long-ish road trip to Little Oakley, hoping to ruffle the league leaders’ feathers, but in the end, it was The Acorns who were victorious in a match that was not the most inspiring, although I guess Oakley would be happy with the outcome.

It may have been only a narrow one-goal victory, but it’s three more points towards The Acorns quest to finish top of the ESL Prem and step up to step four football, and on the balance of play, the home side probably just about deserved their victory.

There didn’t seem to be too much football played, although both teams tried and both teams had chances, and there wasn’t much between them in the end, but a simple goal won it when the chance arose and when The Bridge had their best chance, they failed to take it, and on small margins like these, games are won.

Both sides had early attempts at goal before the only goal of the game came in just the 8th minute, after a shot was deflected for a Little Oakley corner, and centre-half Daniel Keeble headed home from point-blank range, as poor marking from The Bridge left the scorer with too much room, which he used to his advantage.

With plenty of time to play, The Bridge weren’t too worried at this stage, but as the game went on and time ebbed away, The Bridge couldn’t get their attacking game going, whilst The Acorns made sporadic attempts to extend their lead, but, to be honest, most of the chances were well wide of the mark or defended well by both teams. Yes, there were some chances. Jack Unwin flashed a cross across the goal, but nobody could get on the end of it. Luke Hipkin should have done better with a free kick on the edge of the 18-yard box, but hit the dead ball high and wide, and Joshua Mcfaull fired over the bar when well placed, but neither goalkeeper was troubled too much, and the score remained the same as the half-time whistle blew.

The second half began with pretty much more of the same, and Mohammad Amir’s early effort whizzed over the bar, and soon The Bridge were forced into a reshuffle when Jack Mochalski was injured and departed the action. The Bridge were now pressing a bit, and a couple of crosses were cleared, then Ellis Devereux’s cross found substitute Mo Malik right in front of goal, six yards out, and this looked like the moment, but Mo put his attempt over the bar and the hosts escaped.

Two ex-Bridge men then joined the action with Sonny Dutton on for Louie Arnold and Bobby Badham replacing Luke Hipkin. Oakley were looking for the second goal to kill the game whilst The Bridge were searching for the equaliser, but neither side could create anything clear cut and crosses and corners were dealt with.

The Bridge then cleared the ball upfield, and a clash between Patrick Da Lomba and Rory Harman saw the Bridge man red-carded for using his elbow in the challenge, and The Bridge would need to play out the remainder of the game with ten men. Harman recovered enough to take a free kick that was half cleared, and Mohamad Amir flashed in a shot as he picked up the clearance, and Michael Betts tipped it onto the bar and over with a top save.

Another ex-Bridge man, Taylor Jacobi, came on for Jordi Papple as time began to run out, and Betts joined in one last attack as The Bridge earned a late corner. The corner was headed towards goal by Tom Anderson and then headed away, and Betts almost connected but ended up with an ‘air-shot’, and the hosts cleared their lines again.

The clearance was the last moment of the game, and the ball was safely dispatched by Oakley, and the referee blew for time and a home victory. A good win for the home side, despite everything, and once again, The Bridge were in the match but couldn’t quite do enough to earn the point against the league leaders. Close but no cigar as they say....

A solid match from Tom in midfield and defence when called upon. Not a day when there were loads of standout performances, but Tom stood out more than most and deservedly takes the MOM accolade.