BRIDGWATER progressed to the next round of the FA Trophy with a comfortable win at Hayes on Saturday, writes Eddie Robinson.

This was Bridgwater’s first win in the competition, in which they are yet to play a home tie.

Bridgwater opened the scoring within two minutes. A quick throw-in into the heart of the penalty area from Graham Mercieca found Chris Young, who played the ball back to Marcus Duharty, whose first time shot from the edge of the box gave keeper Peacock no chance.

Duharty was then denied a penalty after being wrestled to the ground by Rispoli and at the other end, Vincente made a good run before his shot was blocked by Jamie Laird.

Bridgwater doubled their lead on seven minutes. A quickly taken free-kick by Matt Beadle found the alert Jamie Price, racing down the line, and his low cross found Mercieca who obliged with a crisp shot well away from Peacock.

For the opening quarter hour, Bridgwater looked a class above their Middlesex opponents, who play in the same division.

However, on 21 minutes, Bridgwater keeper Sam Hutchings had a rush of blood, dashing off his line and flattening Butler.

The result was a caution for the keeper and a penalty, converted by Tomkins.

For the next quarter hour, the next goal looked more likely to come from the home side.

Vincente fired just over after a mistake from Price, a Tomkins free-kick hit the post and after Hutchings spilled a cross, Taylor hit the bar before Matt Pitcher cleared the follow-up effort off the line.

Any hopes of a home comeback were dashed at the end of the first half.

On 41 minutes, Price took the ball through the centre of the Hayes defence, and his through-ball took a slight deflection which guided it into the path of Ben Kirk, who ran on to score.

Then in stoppage time, a short free-kick from Mercieca was chipped into the box and Kirk had a simple job to nod the ball into the net. In the second half, Leigh Bailey made his Bridgwater debut, replacing Pitcher. Man-of-the-match Kirk left the field on 59 minutes with concussion, and was replaced by Craig Thomas.

Although Hayes again struck the woodwork, Bridgwater eased to victory and might have added to their lead with Mercieca twice going close.

On Tuesday, Bridgwater host Bath City in the Somerset Premier Cup before Saturday’s FA Cup clash at AFC Totton.