Bridgwater United 2 Helston Athletic 2

The Robins’ title hopes took another battering at a chilly and stark Fairfax Park on Tuesday night when a late equaliser gifted Helston Athletic a point to take back to Cornwall. What was a superb start to the campaign, littered with goals and a healthy lead at the top has disappeared behind a blizzard of long-term injuries, availability issues, red cards and game changing suspensions and with Jack Taylor once again taking the long walk following two yellow cards, there was no let-up in the poor discipline record.

Already missing leading scorer Jake Brown since the new year and Jacob Spence who was still recovering, both Jordan Greenwood and Josh Phillips are now expected to be out for the season after the game on Saturday. Manager Dave Pearse can now add the unfortunate Sam Hedges to the list as he went off with a hamstring injury in the first half but should welcome back Jack Thorne for the long trip to Mousehole on Saturday.

With three live FA Cup ties, including Bristol City v Manchester City on free to view telly, predictably the crowd was around half what it might have been and they saw United struggle to get to grips with a side which offered little despite fielding a host of players who have performed at a higher level. George King had an early effort saved by Kyle Moore then Jake Llewellyn’s free-kick found the hard working Mark Armstrong at the far post but he could not guide it to the target. Taylor was soon into foul trouble as he was cautioned for persistent infringing inside 25 minutes and things got no better around the half hour when Jordan Bentley nodded home from a corner to give the visitors the lead.  Hedges then made way for Sam Towler with Armstrong moving into the back four and Rubin Wilson could have made it two, but blazed over from ten yards just shy of the break.

Within minutes the game was stood on its head as Bentley was adjudged to have handled in the area and Jake Llewellyn made no mistake for his sixth goal of the season then three minutes later Conor Hartley took full advantage of a defensive mistake to expertly round Moore and net to give the Robins a welcome lead. With Bentley already in the sin-bin, Helston were briefly down to nine men when Fred Walter and Dave Thorne went into a tackle near the college touch line and after a lengthy delay referee Dan Bugg dismissed the Helton man and United should have taken over and pocketed the points. Jake Llewellyn then succumbed to a knock to be replaced by young Flynn Smith but just as the home supporters were eyeing the prospect of three points, Taylor failed to beat the offside trap and hammered the ball into the top corner of the net, only to be cautioned again for kicking the ball away and it was ten aside.

Allen Mabia was introduced with ten minutes to go for the ever willing Morgan Williams and Hartley was replaced by Ollie Hebbard but it was all in vain as with a rare attack, Helston snatched a point in injury time through Rikki Shepherd and the Robins had once again shot themselves in the foot.

Bridgwater Utd: Jake Viney. Dave Thorne, Jake Llewellyn (Flynn Smith 69), Mark Armstrong, Sam Hedges (Sam Towler 38), George King, Morgan Williams (Allen Mabia 79), Tom Llewellyn, Jack Taylor, Ross Edwards, Conor Hartley (Ollie Hebbard 82)

Helston Athletic: Kyle Moore, Reece Shanley, Teigan Rogenquest, Fred Walter, Josh Storey, Jordan Bentley, Steve Colwell Tom Payne, Rubin Wilson, Rikki Shepherd, Jordan Copp. Subs: Matt Bye, Aaron Bentley, Rocco Hill, Ross Dunstan.

Competition: Western League Premier Division

Date: Feb 28, 2023

Venue: Fairfax Park

Attendance: 157

Man of the match: Morgan Williams

Referee: Dan Bugg

Assistants: Michael Richards, Peter Horton