It was a cold night out in the East End as The Bridge travelled to Mile End to take on in-form Sporting Bengal United. On a night when the temperatures reached -2 in the second half, The Bridge didn’t freeze but they didn’t go home all warm and cosy with three points either.

It’s safe to say that The Bridge are currently a team in transition with players coming in and some players who have played quite a few games going out, so it may take time for the team to gel and the results to come, hence the up and down nature of the last two results, albeit the opposition were both from the higher echelons of the league table so a win and a defeat isn’t a disaster.

When you read these reports, you obviously get my opinion of the game. I am sure you may have a different view and at Mile End Stadium I would have preferred a different view too as the running track surrounding the pitch made it quite difficult to follow the match. OK, we’re not talking London Stadium distance but far enough, and luckily The Bridge did stand out in fluorescent yellow. Add in no tannoy announcements or sub boards and this soon became a difficult night for match reporting.

OK, enough of my problems, and on to the game. Here we go with my opinion again. I thought we were the slightly better team in the first 45 but in the end went in 1-0 down. This was a different-looking Bridge, formation-wise, but shape or no shape we could have been one up after 11 minutes when Michael Dixon fired over when he probably should have hit the target. The Bridge were playing some nice football without the end product and, to be fair, SBU are a solid outfit and looked dangerous too. Keanu Hill was prominent on the right side and sent in some dangerous crosses. Some went over, and some were cleared but he was having an impact on the game. Another chance for The Bridge and Michael Dixon fired over the bar again, this time under a defensive challenge. Missed opportunities, oh yes.

SBU, as mentioned previously, are a decent team, and following this game they beat Ilford 5-4 at the weekend to go top of the table. They are on a good run of form and when Jay Leader went down defending a through ball it was bad news for The Bridge as the solid back line was disrupted. The hosts have some dangerous players and one who falls into that category is Shermandin Artmaladze who was dangerous all night. My pre-match one to watch for was always looking likely to score and, as half-time approached, he was the man on hand to put SBU one up when he picked up the ball as SBU attacked down the Hullbridge right side. The shot deflected as it headed for goal and Lamz couldn’t quite stop it and so SBU took the lead as half time approached.

Artmaladze was always involved and had two opportunities from good through balls but was denied on both occasions by goalkeeper Lamz. By now, Jay Leader had been forced to leave the pitch following that earlier injury with Jon Evans coming on and The Bridge reshuffling the formation.

Both teams had their chances to add to the score and Billy Karby flashed a shot just wide, as did Artmaladze at the other end but the half-finished 1-0 to the home side and the balance of play was fairly level.

The second half saw an early chance for Archie Leach from an excellent ball from Jon Evans and it probably should have been 1-1 but Archie dragged the ball wide of the post and Sporting held their lead. The always-threatening Artmaladze was forced to leave the field with a calf injury but if Hullbridge thought they were in luck, they needed to think again as Daniel Pepple replaced Artmalzdze and was looking just as dangerous on his debut for Sporting.

As The Bridge tried to get back on level terms, Sporting continued to press for the second goal, and when the aforementioned Keanu Hill found space down the Hullbridge left side, he played a perfect ball to Pepple who finished in style.

Adam Topley had a shot half-blocked and it was easily stopped by the Sporting keeper and then Kachi Yassine should have made it 3-0 but shot wide. There was a strong shout for a penalty as Mike Agboola clashed with Hill in the box and the Hullbridge contingent thought it had been given. The aptly named referee Matthew Pointer, proved to be a not-very-good pointer as he had pointed for a goal kick and not the expected penalty that we all thought he had given.

As the game neared its end, there was time for Kainen Oragbade to shoot wide for The Bridge and for Lamz to make an excellent save from a Sporting 25-yarder. If that was a good save, and it was, Sidi Haidara matched it at the other end from a Toppers free-kick that was heading for the top corner. Lamz was then back in action stopping Pepple from increasing the Sporting tally and Charlie Heatley had a chance saved by the keeper after a goalmouth scramble. A final effort from Mike Agboola went over the bar and summed up the night for Hullbridge as Sporting kept their 4th clean sheet in a row as they headed towards the top of the table.

An unusual night watching football in the East End for me as I’m usually part of a 60,000-plus crowd at the London Stadium, whereas tonight it was 35 at Mile End. The weather was just as cold though, be it Mile End or Stratford, and 2-0 to the opposition is a result I have seen once or twice before!

So, we headed back to Hullbridge defeated but not totally outplayed and move on to the next three games, all at home, and a chance to start putting a run together, we live in hope as ever ….there remains just one thing left to say…

This was a decent performance from The Bridge against strong opposition, but it was still a bit of a struggle to pick out an outstanding player performance. Toppers did more than most though and was always involved so I’m going for him and it’s good to see him back with The Bridge. Well played mate.