The Bridge continued their losing streak at The T.J.Cottis Stadium on Saturday as they succumbed to a second-half performance from Woodford that put paid to hopes of at least a point after an eventful and even first-half. We knew this was a tough fixture, with Woodford in second place in the table and only defeated twice in fifteen matches. As expected, they proved to be a difficult opponent and eventually saw off the battling Bridge challenge.

The game started well for the home side though, and virtually the first piece of action saw The Bridge awarded a penalty when Piers Hatcliff was tripped in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. There was no argument from the visitors who were soon 1-0 down when Owen Bellamy made no mistake with the spot kick. This was just the start we needed although we knew there was a long way to go and any thoughts of victory were firmly in the back of Hullbridge minds at this stage.

The first forty-five was short on on-target attempts and the only attempts on target were part of the action that provided the two first-half goals. The Bridge had taken the lead with their on-target penalty and The Woods equalled that after 13 minutes. David Gokou-Siakouri had already had a shot blocked by his own player and was looking lively on the wing and when Woodford were awarded a free-kick he was alive to the rebound that came his way after Jaydon Charles’ kick was saved by Laurence Whymark. Gokou-Siakouri was first to the rebound and placed his shot into the roof of the net to bring the game to parity.

The half was an intense battle as the two sides tried to gain the upper hand and there was a fascinating duel in midfield between Michael Osei and ex-Bridge captain Sam Owusu. Both players, in the centre of the action, were doing all they could to outwit each other. For me, the battle ended in a draw with both players having excellent games and putting in an outstanding midfield masterclass. As the midfield battle raged, there were few opportunities to influence the score, although both teams created chances that, ultimately, were restricted to off-target attempts.

Woodford had a succession of Max Harbrow corners that Hullbridge defended and Connor Hart and Callum Knowlden were strong in the Bridge back four, calmly defending everything that came at them. Jaydon Charles had another free kick but this time it hit the wall and the rebound was saved by Whymark before the following cross was punched clear. For The Bridge, Piers Hatcliff was involved in most things and he set up Ollie Jenkins but he miscued his shot and the chance was gone. The half ended 1-1 after further efforts by Lewis Bragg, one wide and one over the bar, and more dangerous play from Siakouri with his pace on the wing. Another ex-Bridge man, Mike Agboola headed over from a corner and the half ended level.

A decent first-half performance from The Bridge had given Hullbridge hopes a boost as the teams came out for the second forty-five. The game, however, was about to change, and as the Max Harbrow corner count continued, Woodford pressed for the second goal. The battle for supremacy was now producing a few skirmishes and some, shall we say, unusual decisions from the man in black. Oscar Jones received a yellow card in the 55th minute and, although we’re some weeks away from Christmas, he was soon on the naughty list and received a second yellow and the red after a discussion between Oscar and the referee that was only likely to have one winner.

Down to ten men against a strong opponent was always likely to be difficult and difficult became extremely difficult when another Harbrow corner landed in The Bridge penalty area and there was a massive scramble to A: clear the ball or B: score! I have no idea what happened and I’m not sure many people did as the ball eventually ended up in the Hullbridge net with Unknown getting the final touch! Unknown eventually turned out to be Kahlil Kirwan-Meade who was deemed to have had the final touch and the scrambled goal made it 1-2.

With the goal advantage and man advantage, Woodford were now slightly on top but The Bridge kept going although struggling now to create opportunities. Ollie Jenkins reverted to centre-half when Callum Knowlden was replaced, I think due to an injury, which would not have been surprising as Callum flung himself into various blocks and challenges. The visitors were trying to place through balls for midfield to unlock the home defence again but the offside flag intervened on a couple of occasions to thwart their efforts.

The Bridge were definitely not getting their fair share of decisions and the dangerous Siakouri was still causing problems with his pace on numerous forays forward and when he attacked again down the Hullbridge right and crossed, Sonny Shilling was there on the end of the cross and tucked the ball home for 3-1. The remainder of the game was interrupted by quite a bit of pushing and shoving and arguments and more dubious decisions from the man in the middle, including another red card, for Woodford’s Emmanuel Martins. The goal action though, was finished for the day as the visitors ran out 3-1 winners.

Another red L to add to the sequence but The Bridge were not outclassed by their high-ranking opponents. However, although it’s obvious to say, we need to start getting some points from these performances as the season is becoming ever more difficult, and half-decent or decent performances are no good without points at the end of them.

With two-thirds of the season to go, there’s all to play for and I still feel we have the ability to turn the performances into points. As winter begins to unfold, we will see if it’s a winter of discontent or a resurgence of form that saves the season but either way…

Despite the three goals, Callum and Connor looked good as a centre-back combination and this was a good performance from Callum who has missed a lot of the season through injury. He fought for every header and launched into every tackle as he protected the Bridge goal and made challenge after challenge throughout the game. A worthy MOM performance, well played mate.