Brave Bridges lose out to highflying Dulwich
Three Bridges came close to causing a shock but ended up pinned near the foot of the table after losing 2-1 at home to promotion chasing Dulwich Hamlet.
Dulwich’s victory combined with other games being rained off to lift them to the top of the table while Bridges, despite carving out for themselves a chance of taking three points, remain second to bottom.
Bridges named chief playmaker Lee Carney in their side for the first time this season having recovered from a broken leg which has kept him on the sidelined for nine months.
The gamble of starting him after just a couple of practise games for East Grinstead Reserves paid off with the midfielder bossing play for Bridges during the 60 minutes he was on the field.
Carney set up substitute Scott Faber, who had come on for the injured Leon Dussard, for a golden opportunity with a chip but he could control his shot in front which scewed off-target.
Then two minutes before half-time Carney’s ball into the area was not cleared and found Marcus Elliott who put away first time to give Bridges the lead against the run of play.
Bridges may have felt a bit surprised to find themselves leading at half-time as most of the attacking play had been with Dulwich. Keeper Alan Mansfield and defender Alan Howard did well to keep out attempts on goal by Erhun Oztumer, Daniel Carr, Ellis Green and Kevin James.
A floodlight failure midway through the second half caused a 15 minute delay while all the lights were restarted.
The two teams returned to the field and immediately Faber had a chance to put his side 2-0 up. However with the whole goal to aim at he pushed his shot wide.
Tom Bold created another good chance out of nothing with a drive from 25 yards which was deflected wide as the rain, present throughout the game, absolutely poured down.
Dulwich then broke Bridges’ hearts by scoring twice in the closing stages through Carr, who had scored four goals against Herne Bay in midweek.
The first came in the 73rd minute and rounded off a fine passing move by firing home from short range on the left.
Dulwich pressed and pressed for a winner and it disappointingly came with just two minutes remaining as he beat the offside trap and rounded keeper Alan Mansfield to seal victory.
Bridges: Mansfield, Carden, Bates, Howard, Hooper, Cooke, Carney (Millard 60), Bold, Elliott, Rivers (Touray 80), Dussard (Faber 17). Unused subs: Jemwa, Hammond
Attendance: 326
Man of the Match: Alan Mansfield
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Weather for Crawley
Monday 20 May 2013
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Temperature: 14 C to 18 C
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