BRIDGWATER slumped to their first away defeat of the season when losing 2-1 to Bishops Cleeve last night, writes Eddie Robinson.

The away side got off to a good start when Young drove through the middle before setting up Tasker, who was taken out by opposition defender Jones for an obvious penalty.

Pepperell emphatically converted the spot-kick on ten minutes.

But four minutes later Gascoyne skipped through the Bridgwater defence, leaving a couple of defenders in his wake, before slotting past Manley for a well-taken goal – the first Bridgwater have conceded in eight matches.

Bridgwater responded with Young holding up the ball well before slipping it across to Kirk, who lost his footing as the chance opened up before him.

After 35 minutes Cleeve were down to ten men when Mayo was sent off for a bad tackle on Robertson, which earned him a second yellow card.

It is ironic that Bridgwater’s only two defeats in their last 16 league games have come when their opponents have had to play over half the game with ten men.

But unlike the previous game, which saw some heroic Bedfont defending, an inspired goalkeeper and on a day when the ball just didn’t run for Bridgwater, this was different.

If Bridgwater had played to anything like their potential they would have won comfortably.

There was little goalmouth action as the first half limped to its conclusion.

Bridgwater continued to have more possession throughout the second half but there was seldom an end product. After a decent build up the final pass or cross invariably went astray.

Young was looking the most likely to give Bridgwater the advantage but his colleagues were not getting up to offer enough support.

In isolated Bishops Cleeve attacks, Bridgwater’s defence did not look as secure as in recent games. Kirk’s last action before going off injured - leaving town also with then men - was to force a good save from keeper King.

On 85 minutes Bishops Cleeve sub Lewis reacted quickest to a loose pass in defence and turned his marker to finish with a crisp shot into the bottom corner.

Bridgwater’s last chance to salvage a point came two minutes later when Mercieca beat the keeper way out of his area to a loose ball and Duharty’s shot was cleared off the line.

Last season Bridgwater gave their poorest performance off the campaign in this corresponding game. There must be something about a cold Wednesday night in January at Bishops Cleeve that doesn’t agree with them.