Sports Report:

1-1 equals 1 as The Bridge need to rely on the maths

It was a day of things coming to an end. Hashtag United’s 21-game winning run came to an abrupt halt at Stowmarket Town and The Bridge finally put an end to the run of games in the L column at the 8th attempt as they came from behind to earn a draw against another team looking nervously at the lower end of the table. The rainbow that shone above the Simarco Stadium may not have had a pot of gold at the end of it but there was a valuable point for The Bridge, albeit maybe too late to save the season.

As has been the norm for The Bridge lately, no sooner had Darius Guinea hit the bar at one end early on, Witham were on the attack at the other end and suddenly it was 1-0 after just 13 minutes of play. A decent save from Lewis Greene saw the ball tipped wide for a corner which was cleared but Witham retrieved the ball and put a cross back into the box and, as the ball was headed away from goal, Farai Tsingano turned well and fired it back towards the Hullbrdige goal and into the net. Not the start the lads were hoping for but typical of how things have been going lately for The Bridge.

Still, a long way to go, and hope is never too far away, and nor was George Forrest who had a header cleared off the line by the Witham defence and then glanced one just wide as Hullbridge pushed for the equaliser that they duly got after 28 minutes when a cross from Jake Gordon was headed in at the back-post by Darius Guinea. A determined effort from Darius, who is obviously not the tallest player on the park but his determination to get in front of Witham’s Enock Soganile was rewarded with the leveller. Sam Elwood went close with a shot dragged just wide and Martin Tuohy had a header from a Billy Harris cross saved by keeper Rhys Madden. With no further score in the first forty-five, could The Bridge grab a much-needed win in the second half?

Ultimately, neither side could do enough to win the three points as the second forty-five was a little disappointing and Witham were probably happy with the point that furthers their cause in the relegation fight. Michael Bareck did go close with a decent effort, but Lewis Greene got down to save and keep the scores level and The Bridge had a fair bit of the play without being able to convert a second vital goal as both teams had to settle for the result that neither of them would have wanted. Meanwhile, there was a promising debut at the back for The Bridge from Conor Tyrrell and it was good to see both Finley Woods, from the U18EJA team, and Roy Stevens make debuts from the bench.

So, we enter into that territory that football fans dislike, and for good reason. With six games to go, it’s mathematically possible to remain in the division but, personally, I’ve always hated maths!!

Realistically, our aim now is to move out of the bottom two and take our chances in the play-off(s) and a win at home to Gorleston on Saturday would be a good place to start as we hope to achieve that ambition.

COYB

SPORTS STAR (Hullbridge Man of the match) Guy Norton – Another good performance from Guy who has come back well after his period out through injury.

A TMT Match Report for HSFC