Portishead 1
Bridgwater United 3
On what was an extremely wet Tuesday evening, United made the relatively short trip to Toolstation Western League Division One front runners Portishead Town for their second round Les Phillips tie that followed their resounding 0-3 win at Clevedon Town a month earlier.
With the disappointment of the loss at St Blazey fresh in the memory, this game provided the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the quality and depth of the squad and to progress to the quarter finals. The fact that this was achieved in monsoon like conditions and against potentially tricky opposition is a real credit to all involved.
As has been the case in many games this season, the visitors were quickly on the front foot, pressing high and creating early chances for Ben Griffiths and then from a George King free kick that was well saved by the ‘keeper. This trend continued throughout the first period but without the breakthrough that the ‘The Robins’ dominance deserved.
Half Time: Portishead 0 United 0
Things were soon to change as George King’s superb curling effort from 25 yards gave his side a deserved lead. That lead was short lived, as, within minutes, a shot from distance cannoned off a defender and looped over the unfortunate Jake Viney to bring the scores level. 1-1.
How would the visitors respond to this setback? The Bridgy faithful certainly didn’t have long to wait as, within 2 minutes Adam Wright was on the spot to finish from close range 1-2.
As the rain relented, United continued to have the best of the exchanges with further half chances to extend the lead created. Substantial periods of added time are now commonplace and so it was, in minute 100 that substitutes Jack Thorne and Jay Murray combined effectively for the latter to put United into the next round with a sublime flicked goal. 1-3.
United welcome 8th placed Shepton Mallet to Fairfax Park on Saturday 28th October hoping to maintain their 100% home record!
Match details:
Bridgwater United
Jake Viney, Jake Llewellyn (Capt), Ross Edwards, Jason Quick, Harry Horton, George King (Jack Thorne 65) Sam Towler, Tom Llewellyn (Jay Murray 90), Ben Griffiths (Josh Phillips 63), Jack Taylor, Adam Wright.
Substitutes: (unused) Dave Thorne, Mark Armstrong,
Portishead Town:
Ryan Thacker, Caolan Pearce, James Crossley- John, Callum Eastwood, Aaron March, Toby Lawrence, Jake Packham, Kyle Egan, Alex O’Keeffe, Jack Harper, Josh Honey.
Substitutes: Charlie Williams, Ollie Cox, Luke Attwell, Dave Hewitt, Sam Bendall-Weeks
Date: 24th October 2023
Competition: Les Philips Cup, Second Round
Venue: Bristol Road, Portishead.
Attendance: Not known
Report: Bob Buckingham
