Bridgend 3 Marlborough 2
After an excellent unbeaten spell Marlborough travelled to Bridgend with a win firmly fixed in their minds. With only three games left in the season, both sides knew this was a do or die situation – the home team were three places from the bottom of the league table, the visitors were two from the bottom.
Marlborough started the game slowly. Several misplaced passes and positional errors allowed Bridgend the space and freedom to keep the ball and were under little pressure.
Marlborough were restricted to counter attacks, but were unable to find the killer ball. It was not long before Bridgend took the lead after several fortuitous deflections both outside and inside the D.
This wake up call galvanised Marlborough and minutes later they were back on level terms after a cute deflection of their own courtesy of skipper Richard Holman. It was 1-1 at half time.
The second half began with Bridgend pressing higher up the pitch, putting further pressure on Marlborough and again the pressure told as the home side once again regained the lead following another deflection – off a Marlborough stick – to make it 2-1.
Typical of the strangeness of the game so far, Marlborough equalised almost immediately from a quick attack with striker Matt Way putting the finishing touch to the move.
The game then ebbed and flowed with both teams assuming dominant positions but unable to score again.
With roughly ten minutes remaining Bridgend took the lead following a short corner with a low drag into the bottom corner. Marlborough pressed desperately to score an equaliser knowing that a loss would make it incredibly difficult for them to avoid relegation.
They were not able to score again and Bridgend won the game 3-2. It was a devastating blow for Marlborough.
The TH White man of the match went to Anil Sud.