I always thought Solomon Ofori was a good player and was disappointed when he left The Bridge last season to join SWT. Last night, he was back to prove to me how good a player he really is as, for the second time this season, he caused all sorts of problems for The Bridge on a tough night for The Blues at Lower Road.

With Solo causing problems on one wing and Correy Davidson doing the same from the other, it started badly and continued to be a bad night for the home side as SWT racked up the goals and brushed The Bridge aside with relative ease on another disappointing evening at Lower Road. Although results have not been good for a while, performances have been better than the results suggest but this defeat is probably the lowest that The Bridge have sunk as they were pretty much defeated within 25 first-half minutes.

Just three minutes into the match, Solo Ofori was causing problems and finding space on the right wing and his cross into the box was a good one and Roman Campbell rose to head home unopposed. Roman Campbell, Light the blue touch paper and stand well back, and that’s exactly what The Bridge defence did as Roman made it 1-0 with ease. Four minutes later Ofori was at it again and this time his cross found Sam Deering who volleyed home for 2-0 and it was starting to look like a difficult night for The Bridge.

Normally The Bridge start games well but all they had to show for it in this one, so far, was a Ruben Santos shot that was well off target whilst The Bloods had a two-goal lead and three or four more attempts with various outcomes; saves by Laurence Whymark, defensive blocks and an Adalberto Pinto header that went wide. Solo Ofori also had an audacious back-heel effort blocked as we watched on in horror.

A Jake Wiggins cross missed everybody and then a Bridge attack finished with (I think) the ball cleared off the line and, soon after, a loud penalty shout by The Bridge was ignored but the horror continued to unfold as SWT broke from midfield and Sam Deering played Correy Davidson in and he finished to make it 3-0. The rest of the half saw both sides putting in crosses that were cleared and Whymark made a couple of saves as the first forty-five finished 0-3.

Louis Bragg came on for Jake Wiggins at the start of the second half and he was involved in some nice moves and The Bridge went close when Mechack Asuka’s shot was saved and Owen Bellamy hammered the rebound off the bar. Fine lines I guess but SWT were well worth their lead although, at this stage of the game, The Bridge were giving it a go with both Bellamy and Jack Nolde having attempts that went wide, Owen’s after a deflection.

A mishit clearance from Whymark was pounced upon by Ofori but the flag went up as he put the ball in the net and he did it again soon after but the flag was up again. Reuben Santos’ free kick was saved by Anderson but soon SWT were further in front as Campbell’s cross was headed home by Davidson. As the substitutes came into play, Davidson had a shot cleared off the line although it was the other end from me, and difficult to see what exactly happened. The Bridge were still trying but not creating much in the way of clear-cut chances, restricted to shots over the bar and cleared crosses. A Connor Hart header was saved by Anderson and finally, Ofori got the goal he deserved in the 93rd minute and our misery was complete.

There was just time for Louie Hunt to drag a shot wide before the final whistle allowed us to seek refuge in the bar, where most of us were now thinking that’s where we should have stayed for the previous 90 minutes. A comfortable victory for SWT, a demoralising defeat for The Bridge, and time to re-group with a blank weekend coming up before a vital encounter with bottom-of-the-table FC Clacton. A hard season gets ever harder but who said watching your team was meant to be enjoyable?! Well, maybe now and then would be nice but in the meantime…

A night to forget for The Bridge and not really a night for awards either, so the medal stays in the box!