Bridgewater Town 3

Swindon Supermarine 0

From a Robins perspective...

Bridgwater Town 3 Swindon Supermarine 0
Southern League Cup semi-final
Town cruised through to the final of the Southern League Cup after a splendid performance against Premier League opposition. Let’s put this in context, Swindon Supermarine, in the previous round, beat Windsor and Eton 3-0. Windsor and Eton are top of the division that Town play in. So this was a major win - possibly the best under the management of Craig Laird and Danny Phillips.

The first half was scintillating. It is hard to conceive of how Town could possibly have played better. All three goals came in the first half and they could have changed ends with a lead of five or six goals. They were in complete control of the game and a rather inept Supermarine side didn’t know what had hit them.
 

What had hit them was commitment, desire and skill in bagfuls. Yes, Supermarine contributed to their demise with some awful distribution from the back but from first to last Town were snapping at them and they weren’t at any stage allowed to breathe. Marcus Duharty terrorised the visitors and a brace of goals was a fair return for his wholehearted effort. He is forever badgering the back line and he keeps them in a state of danger alert. After 13 minutes, he scored a slightly lucky opener. Brett Trowbridge controlled a ball lofted forward and laid it off in to space between the defenders and goalkeeper. Keeper Matt Bulman seemed to win the race for the loose ball but he could only strike the ball against Duharty and the ball rolled into the net.

 
Trowbridge had an overhead kick clutched at the second attempt by Bulman before Graham Merceica almost doubled the lead. A majestic run and cross from the right by Nat Pepperell saw the ball clear the defenders. Merceica was steaming in on the back post and his header just cleared the bar.
 

Soon after, Supermarine had their one and only shot at goal. A simple save for Tom Manley from a free kick by Sean Wood. At no point did the Wiltshire team look like scoring. The scratch central partnership of Steve Orchard and Mike Taylor , ably assisted by Jamie Price and Pete Monks on the flanks, looked utterly watertight. Merceica scored the second goal after 28 minutes and it was a beauty. Pepperell gained possession on the right wing and Price crossed the ball low and hard. Merceica was again closing in at pace but this time his finish was more controlled. He despatched a low shot with conviction.

 
Supermarine looked very nervous now. Maybe they underestimated their opponents. They kept on putting pressure on themselves with haphazard distribution. On more than one occasion they rolled the ball across their penalty area to nobody in particular . This weakness led to the third goal after 42 minutes.
 

Wood sent a woolly pass across his defensive area and the ball was knocked out for a corner. Pepperell’s corner was well met by Dan Forward’s head. Bulman saved well but Duharty snapped up the loose ball and managed to head the loose ball in the net.
The purest football moment in the game came just before the third goal. Anton Olondo wasn’t quite finding his best passing range early on but a fabulously sharp turn totally wrong footed his opponent and his driven diagonal ball set up Merceica for another rampaging run. This time he drove to the left of the target.
 

It was important for Town to keep Supermarine quiet for the first 10 minutes of the second half to quell any thoughts of a comeback. In fact they kept their supine opponents quiet for the rest of the game. Only when Alan Griffin came on as a target man did they look to have any discernable game plan. It still led to nothing.
 

Town were able to play the second half within themselves but at times the quality of the passing and movement was as good as you can expect to see. The players must have loved it. The crowd did. The best action of the second half was a crashing drive by Forward after more casual play by the visitors’ defence. Bulman had to dive to his left to push aside the 20 yard effort. It is a bit of a shame that this game had to be played on a Thursday as the clash with skittles night kept the crowd down. Hopefully, a bumper crowd will support this exciting team in the final against Bury Town or Atherstone.