In a disappointing start to the season we lost to Bridgend, we conceded a first half penalty, had Leigh Shrimpton sent off and had a Carl Payne 30 yarder ruled out for offside. Both sides had several newcomers in their line-up and we started quite well with Gavin Jones getting an early cross into the box. Bridgend were awarded a couple of early free kicks and Carl Evans did well to head one clear under extreme pressure from the Bridgend players. The ball was played back into the box and headed out to Vince Wattleworth whose shot from 25 yards was on target but Brendan Cropley made a fine one handed save turning the ball over for a corner. We responded with a corner of our own but Daniel Lancey's corner was held under the crossbar by Neil Collins. Daniel Lancey was fouled on the edge of the box, if advantage had been allowed we'd have been one up but the ref called for a free kick which was fired at the wall and cleared. Just before the half hour the ball was played forward to Nathan White who did well to hold the ball and wait for support. Corey Thomas made the ground and Nathan laid the ball into his path but Corey's 25 yard first time shot was just wide of the target.

The next Bridgend attack saw them take the lead, a rash challenge from Jonathan Hood saw Rameer Outlaw go down in the box to give the ref an easy decision. Raith Plant netted the penalty with ease. Two minutes later we deserved to be level, Nathan White beat several defenders in a mazy run on the edge of the area but his left footed shot went inches past the post. Another Nathan White run produced the first yellow card when he was pulled back by midfielder Grant Williams. From the resultant free kick Corey Thomas shot wide of the right hand post. Virtually right on half time Shaun Morgan playing up front was booked for a challenge out on the touchline, Bridgend took the free kick and the half time whistle sounded.

Bridgend won an early second half corner and both sides were appealing to the ref, Bridgend for a hand ball and us for a foul, the ref ignored both appeals and play continued. A second corner on 50 minutes changed the game, we cleared the corner but as it was played back to the edge of the area Leigh Shrimpton stretched and tackled the Bridgend player. Certainly to our surprise the ref gave him a straight red card when there seemed no malice in the challenge and there was no injury. Bridgend took full advantage of this and within 7 minutes scored another two goals to put the game out of reach. The first by Rameer Outlaw was a simple header from a right wing cross, the second by Atif Bashir followed a corner that in all honesty could have gone anywhere.

With 20 minutes to go we replaced Gavin Jones and Justin Williams with Carl Payne and Craig Baker. Carl had only been on the field for three or four minutes when he scored with a thirty yard shot giving the keeper no chance. However our celebrations were soon curtailed when the assistant referee raised his flag indicating he had come back from an offside position. Nathan White and Carl Payne combined well and on 78 minutes we again got the ball in the net and this time it did count with Carl opening his account for the season. We then won a free kick which was knocked wide for Carl Evans, he headed the ball across goal but no one was challenging and a chance to reduce the arrears even further had gone. Despite us being a man down and Bridgend two goals to the good our late pressure was causing them problems and there was panic creeping into the back line but we weren't able to capitalise.

Lido side:
Brendan Cropley Jonathan Hood Leigh Shrimpton Carl Evans Justin Williams Gavin Jones Ryan Frankcom Corey Thomas Shaun Morgan Nathan White Daniel Lancey

Subs: 12 Carl Payne, 14 Michael Lewis, 15 Craig Baker, 16 Luke Borrelli, 17 James McEvoy.

Yellow Cards: Shaun Morgan 45, Nathan White, 56 Ryan Frankcom 84, Jonathan Hood 85.

Red Card: Leigh Shrimpton 51.

Attendance: 304

Match Report by Peter Reynolds

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