Corinthian Casuals 2 Three Bridges 0

It would be difficult to fault anyone in a Bridges shirt as they once again had eight first teamers out with injuries.

Allan Tait added to that number with a groin strain a third of the way through this match.

Tim Cook almost gave Bridges an eighth minute lead when he broke through but shot just wide of Danny Bracken’s far post.

Moments later a rare poor header by Jamie Crellin, back from suspension, gave Shaun Okojie the first chance for Casuals, but Kieron Thorp made a good save.

Bridges’ keeper had a superb game overall but would have been disappointed with the opening goal after 14 minutes as he failed to connect with a free-kick and left the diminutive Jamie Byatt to head home as he celebrated reaching the 300 appearances mark for the home side.

Three minutes before half-time it was the turn of Bracken to show his quality with two saves in quick succession.

Dan Mobsby’s deep free-kick was headed across goal by Crellin to Cook, whose first time volley was blocked by Bracken, who then pushed away the follow up from Mitchell Casselman.

But the half ended with Thorp denying Okojie as the giant centre forward broke clear.

Thorp was again to the rescue when Juevan Spencer was clean through, but after 56 minutes he could do nothing to prevent Mahrez Bettache from sliding home after Josh Gallagher had pulled the ball back in his path.

Cook was just wide with a header from Ricardo Fernandez’s cross and he also saw his cross shot expertly tipped away by Bracken.

Hakeem Adelakun grazed the bar with a long distance effort and Thorp continued to annoy the home fans by denying Byatt and then tipping over a header by Okojie.

With Crellin and Tom Bold proving stubborn in the visitors’ defence, it was incredible to see Byatt with a shocking miss from two yards in front of an open goal.

But Bridges deserved a bit of luck in a hard fought encounter where, despite the odd sad sight of Casuals players pleading to the referee for yellow cards to be shown, there wasn’t a single caution all evening for either side.

Bridges: Thorp, Hayles, Mobsby (Gallagher 68), Wilson, Bold, Crellin, Fender, Adelakun, Tait (Casselman 32), Cook, Fernandes

Unused sub: Wormull

Aerotron Man of the Match: Tim Cook

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