Most, or quite possibly all, football fans suffer from two things, hope and despair…we follow our teams on their rollercoaster ride, and always there is hope. Quite often hope becomes despair, but this encounter between an in-form Bridge and ten-game unbeaten Barking actually went the other way!

A competitive and goalless first half was bereft of chances. Early on, keeper Finn Rushton, who, in this case, could be called Rushout, came out of his area, leaving an open goal, but Patrick Da Lomba’s shot missed the target. Barking had the ball in the net when Michael Bett pushed away a cross, and Saliu Lo Seye headed home, but the flag was up for offside.

In an unusual centre midfield for The Bridge, Rowan Balestreri and Billy Willis were battling hard, but The Bridge couldn’t get wide men Apenteng and Da Lomba into the game. Jack Mochalski went close with a header from a Leo Clark cross, but his effort just went wide whilst, at the other end, Ryan Pickles' free kick was scrambled clear. To be honest, in the first half of this match, defences were on top, and a competitive first half ended 0-0, and we anticipated there would be more action in the following half, and there seriously was and more!

The game suddenly sprung into life early in the second half when Barking took a 50th-minute lead and then quickly doubled it just six minutes later. There it was… despair for everyone with Hullbridge at heart. At this point, there was still hope but probably not expectation. Without stating the obvious, although I’m about to, The Bridge needed a goal and quick and just three minutes after Barking’s second, they got one when Kojo Apenteng fired a free kick past Finn Rushton, and it was 1-2.

Alfie Attrill had reacted quickest to put the visitors 1-0 ahead when Sam Edwards cross was pushed away by Michael Bett, and then a long kick from keeper Rushton, after he had caught Kamel Sassi’s free kick, went over everyone’s head and Tyreece Robertson ran onto it and finished well for 2-0.

Kamel Sassi was fouled on the edge of the box, and Kojo reduced the deficit to one goal with his superb, albeit deflected off the wall, free kick, and then Jack Unwin, having a great game on The Bridge right flank, was pulled down inside the Barking box by Ryan Pickles, and a penalty was awarded. Billy Willis sent keeper Rushton the wrong way with another excellent penalty to add to the tally of excellently finished Bridge penalties this season. Just before that, Sam Edwards missed a chance to put Barking 3-1 up when he dragged a shot just wide.

Suddenly, despair had turned into hope and, to be honest, an element of disbelief as The Bridge were gaining control of the match. As the home side gained momentum, suddenly an untroubled Barking were looking troubled. Time to transfer the despair from The Bridge to their opponents as a ball over the top by Ellis Devereux saw Kojo Apenteng through, and he finished well to beat Rushton, who got a hand to it, and put The Bridge 3-2 up with 77 minutes gone.

Could The Bridge hold their lead? Tell you what, how about they go and score a fourth? Just four minutes after the third, the lively Mo Malik was fouled, and Bridge fans were jumping up and down again as Billy Willis sent in a free kick, and as it bounced around in the box, Jack Mochalski got to it first and buried it for number four!

Barking attempted to rally in the remaining minutes, but they were done, shell-shocked and beaten by a superb Hullbridge second-half performance. Sam Edwards' free kick went wide of the goal, and that was about the closest they got to getting a goal back as the “Hullbridge Ultras” drum spurred The Bridge on to victory.

Make no mistake, this was a great win for The Bridge. Barking are in the play off places and have been for most of the season, and were on a great run. Despite this defeat, they are still in prime position for the play offs, and I doubt they’ll suffer too many defeats like this one.
As for The Bridge, we are now 9 points off the last play off place and, in 2026, have suffered just one defeat in nine matches. Here we go, here comes the hope again!

However, if we don’t make it, I won’t despair…we’re heading in the right direction under Marc and Liam’s leadership, and our season has turned around remarkably. The team they’ve built are getting stronger and stronger, and judging by the smiles in the clubhouse after the game, everyone is pretty happy with that!