On a cold, fresh afternoon in Cornwall, Bridgwater travelled to one of the league favourites Falmouth Town and came away with a massive 3 points in front of over 450 supporters.
The Gaffer made a couple of changes with stalwart Jack Taylor starting up front and youngster Luke Newman making his debut. On a very difficult heavy pitch, Bridgy started the more brighter with Jake Llewellyn pulling the strings in the middle of the park. Thorne had a half chance inside 10 minutes which was well saved. King had a shot just over the bar on 13 minutes and a minute later a smart save from Finch denied the host there first real chance.
The front two of Taylor & Thorne were picking up scraps as Bridgy were struggling, as were the opposition to get their fluid passing going. The centre back partnership of Dave Thorne & Ross Mcerlain was sweeping up most of the home side threats. A couple of good delivery’s by Jake Llewellyn were won in the box by Mcerlain but just did not fall kindly for Murray & Taylor respectfully. Williams went into the book on 43 minutes for a clumsy challenge deemed a booking by the referee. The home side finished the stronger but they lacked quality in the final third, so it was even stevens at half time with Bridgy defending superbly and fully deserved to go in level.
The second half stared well from both teams with some good passages of play as both teams started to get to grips with the pitch conditions. Another challenge by Morgan on 47 minutes alerted the Referees attention by the home players so the Gaffer replaced him with Griffiths on 48 minutes as a precaution. A minute later came the breakthrough. Jack Thorne received the ball from smart pass from Murray, looked up some 35 yards out and sent a beauty straight over the keeper to take the lead. This rallied the home team and they began to press us with all they could.
A couple of chances inside 3 minutes were flashed into the side netting, but Finch had it covered, and we defended superbly. Phillips replaced the tireless Thorne on 65 minutes and was in the action immediately with a couple of good interceptions. The Gaffer was now thinking about tightening up the middle of the park and Skipper Armstrong replaced the tireless King on 74 minutes & Mckayle replaced Jack Thorne who worked his socks off. Sousa then came on for Jack Taylor on 76 minutes for his debut. The home team were huffing & puffing now but the boys stood firm collectively and defended for their lives.
As we entered injury time, the host were awarded a very dubious free kick some 25 yards out. This was dully dispatched despite a great attempt by Finch. However, after consultation with his Assistant it was quite rightly disallowed due to three players standing in an offside position prior to the kick and very clearly obstructing the view of Finch. In a final play, the ball was intercepted on the halfway line and launched into the box, but Finch leapt into the sky’s to pluck the ball to safety.
The relief at the final whistle was unbelievable. To win here is not something many teams do and to play the way we did, defend as a unit, and have the desire & hunger to overcome a very well drilled Falmouth team was nothing more than we deserved.
Man of the Match was Tom Llewellyn who worked & chased tirelessly and was class on the ball but to be honest all 16 players put some shift in. The support we had was fantastic from the travelling fans and the journey home on the coach was somewhat memorable. A final mention from the home supporters who were quite rightly aggressive and intimidating during the game but showed their class in the club house after the game, and gave the departing visitors a round of applause as they departed. Nice touch.
