Three Bridges limp out of the FA Trophy against 10-man South Park

Although they shared the possession statistics with South Park, it was the home side who looked more adventurous when attacking in a first half where the final ball seemed to always be lacking for Bridges.

Camron Lawson had the first shot of note after nine minutes, but it was a comfortable low save for Danny Bracken, and this seemed the pattern for much of the game as the visitors couldn’t quite get any power behind their shots.South Park showed how to finish after 14 minutes when a delightful deep ball from full back Jack Tucker was headed home by Joe Bell. The ever lively Kevin Rivera saw his shot saved after good interplay with Ethon Archer, but debutant Jasper Sheik in the Bridges goal had to make two excellent point blank saves to deny the hosts.Bridges had a good shout for a penalty when Rivera was bundled over in the 34th minute, but after 40 minutes Sheik made another great block before the ball ran wide and swiftly came back in for BELL to head his second.A good save by Bracken from Archer led to a corner and Kelvin Manuel Massango was cautioned for time wasting, this proving costly for him as in first half added time he received a second yellow for a bad challenge on Lawson.Bridges huffed and puffed in a second half where South Park defended resolutely and Rivera, Noel Leighton and Ridwan Euba all had decent chances. They finally turned one of them into an 85th minute goal as Archer’s cross was firmly headed home by Leighton.

A string of bookings then followed with Tucker “taking one for the team” when he hauled Rivera down as the Bridges player threatened to break clean through, but overall this was a below par performance by the visitors and the Trophy dream is over for another year.

Bridges Man of the Match - Kevin Rivera.

Bridges: J.Sheik, D.Ferreria (G.Ashley, 60), R.Euba, B.Irving, T.Difika, H.Woollard (C.Collcutt, 54), E.Archer, B.O’Neill, N.Leighton, K.Rivera, C.Lawson (E.Hanslow, 74).Unused Subs. - M.Bromage, B.Villavicencio, H.Griffiths.Booked - Rivera (67), Collcutt (90+4).