At last, The Bridge finally added a Green W to their sequence of results on a wild and windy day at the T.J.Cottis Stadium as Storm Bert descended on Hullbridge as it did on the rest of the country. The storm that caused havoc all over the UK, caused havoc in the West Essex penalty area as early as the 4th minute of the game when Ruben Santos’ corner swung into a crowded West Essex six-yard box and evaded everyone as Bert did its bit and the ball went directly into the West Essex net from Ruben’s corner.

The way things have been going for The Bridge, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the wind and rain had seen the game called off then and there, but the Lower Road pitch was holding up well and survived even the worst that Bert could throw at it. It held up well enough to allow Louis Bragg to go on a mazy run that, unfortunately, didn't finish with the goal it probably deserved.

Hullbridge were not to be denied though and were soon 2-0 up when Mechack Asuka was fed by Piers Hatcliff whose good run ended with a ball to Mechack that he finished low past Essex keeper Emmanuel Nwosu. It was a good start by the home team but I expect that most people were thinking, “Could The Bridge go on from here and take the badly needed three points”? We’ve been here before and have the scars to prove it!

Essex tried to cause The Bridge some problems but the home team defence stood strong and kept the visitor's attacks at bay, whilst, at the other end, Piers Hatcliff’s shot from Jack Unwin’s pass went wide. Matt McDowell and Yemi Adelani were looking quite threatening but the visitors couldn’t feed them the final ball and the first half finished with The Bridge maintaining that 2-0 lead.

West Essex began the second period well, albeit without creating too many openings, although Oliver Travell’s header required a goal-line clearance by Connor Hart to keep the visitors at nil. On 56 minutes though, Matt McDowell changed that and finished well amongst the crowds in the penalty area to put The Stags back in the game at 2-1.

Keeper Nwosu spilled a long-range Hullbridge effort that Asuka nearly got on the end of but Joel Lamb put in a good block to stop the third goal but The Bridge kept pressing for that goal and when the excellent Jack Unwin found Asuka in the area, he cooly struck to find the net for his third goal in two games.

The West Essex cause was not helped by a red card for substitute Ramzi Mahmoudi who received two quick bookings and earned himself an early walk to the tunnel. Making the most of their one-man advantage, The Bridge were putting pressure on the visitors and a defensive error saw Owen Bellamy’s run end in a fourth goal for The Bridge on 81 minutes with Owen's shot finding the top corner of the West Essex net.

Now well beaten, the visitor's discipline started to go as Bleron Ademi was sent off for a high tackle and captain Mitchell Arthur was sin-binned. This was but a minor detail though, as The Bridge had the match in the bag and the much-needed three points were won, despite anything that Storm Bert could throw at the teams and the Lower Road pitch. So, hopefully, the tide has turned for The Bridge and those performances will turn into more points as we enter the winter months. Let’s look forward to more points on the board and not too many storms as…

On a day of good performances by players in Blue & White, Jack just shades it and was part of an excellent back four performance. Nods of approval to Mechack, Piers, Louis, and Laurence. All in all, you can see why The Bridge did well with good performances from a high percentage of the team. Long may it continue!