This local derby was a classic game of two halves and was excellent entertainment played in front of a season high crowd of 134.

Bridgwater flew out of the traps with an excellent tempo to their play and the front three of Chris Young, Owen Sellick and Matt Connick were working hard to press the ball high up the field. 15 minutes in, it was Young, who was outstanding throughout, who opened the scoring after his quick turn and neat finish proved too much for visiting goalkeeper Chris Warner.

Bridgwater maintained their tempo and were camped in the Berrow half and dominated possession for long periods. The pressure told after 30 minutes when Callum Lairds excellent cross field pass found Tyne Govier whose excellent chest control teed him up to lash home a powerful volley from just inside the box.

Berrow made some changes to their team at half time and were instantly back in the game after Bridgwater failed to deal with a long straight high ball and Berrow forward Jack Taylor nipped in to lob the ball over keeper James Annison. Berrow were buoyed by this and the momentum of the game shifted to the away side. Despite this, the hosts restored their 2 goal lead after Young laid off for Matt Connick who ran past 2 defenders before cooly slotting home.

This stirred Berrow and their long direct style of play was causing Bridgwater trouble and Taylor doubled his personal tally with an almost identical goal as Bridgwater again failed to deal with the high ball and he nipped in to lob Annison. The scores were level minutes later when Ross McErlains deep freekick was headed in unopposed at the back post.

The game continued at a good tempo, but neither team were able to find a winner in the closing stages.

Bridgwater Town Reserves Manager Luke Buckingham said,

“We are really disappointed with our second half performance today and the manner of which we let them back in to the game. As a collective, we failed to deal with long high straight balls and paid the price. We played some of our best football of the season in spells in the first half, but that work was undone by some naive defending. This group of young, local players have been outstanding all year and this game is another good learning curve for them and it helps to keep our minds focused for the cup semi final away vs Dundry next Saturday.”