I’ve played quite a bit of football at Parsloes over the years, but it was never like this! The new Bobby Moore Sports Hub, home to Athletic Newham, is a pretty impressive facility and its 4G pitch meant that Saturday’s game avoided the freeze that decimated the day’s fixture list. OK, it’s not perfect, the segregation between the 3 pitches could be better and it was a bit annoying that the match next door was a bit intrusive. They could store the spare goalposts better too, so that you could see the actual goalposts better and not about six of them! Apart from that though Barking and Dagenham council have spent their millions well, aided and abetted by the Premier League and the FA.

So much for the facilities, the game itself, although ultimately disappointing result-wise for The Bridge, was an enjoyable contest that The Bridge deserved something from but, unluckily, ended up with nothing. The boys in green and yellow made a slow start and Atletico were on top from the start, with Alex Kozak and Julian Sarmiento-Ramirez probing in midfield and causing problems as they fed the Newham strikers and wide men. In fact, it took just 5 minutes for one of those wide men, Abdul Khamis, to register the opening goal and we feared the worst as Atletico launched wave after wave of attacks.

However, The Bridge defence was resolute, and we began to work our way into the game until an excellent through ball put Khamis through on the right wing and he continued into the Hullbridge penalty box before sliding his shot past Laurence Whymark to put the hosts 2-0 up after 21 minutes. The two-goal lead was not a surprise as the home side had already had a lot of shots on target, mainly from Leonardo Luis De Carvalho Pedro, and mostly saved comfortably by Whymark.

After the initial 20 minutes or so, The Bridge began to play their part and started moving the ball well with Austin Smart linking everything up well and Piers Hatcliff looking dangerous on both wings. We hit the post with one chance although the lino flagged for offside and went close a few times before the second Newham goal. The Bridge continued to press after that goal and were now on top, although Atletico were always dangerous on the break, The Bridge were playing some good football. On 29 minutes a Piers Hatcliff cross fell to Freddie Moriaty who turned and shot at goal and the ball fell to Iziah Antoine who finished to make it 2-1.

Both teams had further chances with a combination of wide, over the bar, saved by the keeper, or blocked by both defences, all of which kept the score at 2-1 as we reached half-time.

The Bridge started the second half on the front foot and a superb ball from Connor Hart found Iziah Antoine in the box and, despite the home team’s protests, a penalty was awarded for the foul on Iziah. This all happened right in front of Beryl and me as we were standing behind the goal and it looked like a pen to me. Beryl couldn’t watch the pen so I videoed it as Freddie Moriaty smashed it home for 2-2.

The Bridge were doing most of the attacking now and Antoine had a shot go wide and, from a corner, the ball fell to Moriaty who fired over the bar. Atletico had their moments too with Whymark saving from De Carvalho Pedro and another effort deflected wide for a corner after a penalty box scramble. From that corner, the home side went ahead when Charlie Campbell headed the third Newham goal. Charlie is a very tall guy and if you leave him unattended in the box you’re asking for trouble and trouble is what we got!

The Bridge battled away though and continued to press and from our vantage point behind the goal The Bridge were attacking, Beryl and I were kicking and heading every ball as the boys did likewise in an attempt to salvage the point. We Came close on several occasions but Harold Adu-Poku made some good saves and the home defence blocked everything The Bridge threw at them. Piers Hatcliff was instrumental in most of these attacks and went close with a superb effort saved by Adu-Poku that the lino didn’t see but everybody else did!

Despite the pressure, the Newham goal remained safe and the home side ran out 3-2 winners and everybody with Hullbridge connections was gutted as we definitely deserved something from the game. Despite the defeat, it was an enjoyable game and a quick mention for our hosts, who looked after The Bridge committee well with the help of the excellent Bobby Moore facilities. It wasn’t the result we hoped for but it was a good Bridge performance that gives us hope for Tuesday night and our last shot at a trophy for 24/25 and…


On a day when there were some good performances from the men in green and yellow, Piers was just slightly above the others, causing problems on both wings and providing numerous crosses. Take a bow Piers, great effort mate.