Broadbridge Heath put five past Crawley Down Gatwick to shake up the SCFL title race

BROADBRIDGE HEATH 5-0 CRAWLEY DOWN GATWICK

This was a must win game for third placed Broadbridge Heath to retain any hope of promotion to the Isthmian League as victory for the division leaders Crawley Down Gatwick would see them open up a 14-point lead over the Bears.

As has been the case in recent matches, Heath got off to a flyer when Jamie Chesworth played the ball into the penalty area to Sam Lemon who took a touch before rifling home a right foot shot from 16 yards that went in off the keeper.

Chesworth then scored the second on 24 minutes when he played a free-kick from the right touchline towards the near post where Ryan Brackpool looked to get a touch, but the ball escaped both to score his 2nd goal of the season.

Twelve minutes later it was 3-0 when a long clearance was played up to Charlie Parmiter who split the Anvils defence with an inch perfect pass that sent Lemon through on goal and the striker hit a low right foot shot under the advancing keeper for his team’s third of the game and the strikers fourth goal against the Anvils this season.

Two minutes later the visitors had a great chance to pull a goal back when a corner from the right was cleared to Sam Clements who smashed it straight back but was denied by Liam Matthews making a brilliant one handed save, pushing the ball over the crossbar to safety and it remained 3-0 at the break.

It didn’t take long for the Bears to get into their stride when on 48 minutes Mason Doughty received the ball wide on the right and he floated a right foot cross into the penalty area where Charlie Parmiter guided a header into the top right corner of the net to make it 4-0.

The visitors responded well and Matthews was forced to make another top save to deny a Clements header but with 15 minutes remaining the Anvils difficult task became almost impossible when Harvey Entiknap had a mad moment stamping on a grounded Louis Evans right in front of the Match Referee, an easy call for the official showing the Anvils substitute a straight red.

With 10 minutes to go Heath brought on Jamie Taylor, for his first appearance at home in a league match since the opening game of the season and what a return the striker made after Charlie Weller powered a header forward, a slip by a defender allowed Taylor to sneak in and play the ball wide of the advancing keeper for Heath’s fifth of the afternoon.

Minutes later Charlie Weller rasping shot from distance was well saved by the Anvils keeper who also denied Taylor a second goal minutes later by sprinting off his line to block.

So a good afternoon for the Bears who stay in touch with the division leaders but there’s still plenty more football to play, the Bears are back in action on Tuesday evening when we host Little Common.

BBH boss Chris Simmons said afterwards: “We’ve a really tough few weeks of Saturday/Tuesday games, especially this week facing both teams above us, but the lads today were absolutely fantastic and worked tirelessly winning the ball back time and time again and then were clinical going forward.”

BBH: Matthews, Frankland (Terry 55), Chesworth, Weller, Sim, Brackpool, Todd (Carvalho 79), Evans, Parmiter, Lemon (Barbary 68), Doughty (Taylor 79).

BROADBRIDGE HEATH 1-2 NEWHAVEN

A break from League fixtures came last Tuesday evening as the Bears welcomed Newhaven FC to High Wood Hill Sports Ground for a Peter Bentley Cup quarter-final.

Heath supporters will know how unusual it is for the Bears to still be in a cup competition at this stage of the season as their record since joining the SCFL in 1983-84 has been atrocious with not a single trophy to their name, could this be the year?

The Bears started well and had their first shot at goal within a minute of the start when Sam Lemon cut into the box on the left side and hit a right foot shot into the side netting, a few minutes later a Heath free kick was played into the Newhaven penalty area, it came out to Lemon on the edge of the penalty area who struck a right foot shot that got a deflection but was saved brilliantly by Jake Buss the Newhaven keeper.

The Dockers first chance came on nine minutes when a corner from the right was headed goalwards and Matthews was forced to dive to his right to claw the ball away from sneaking in at the far post. But the early pressure finally told in the ninth minute when Alex Barbary received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and he played the ball perfectly into the path of Louis Evans who stuck a right foot beauty from 25 yards that sailed into the top left corner. Further chances came Heath’s way but without really troubling Buss.

In the 35th minute a much talked about incident occurred when Newhaven’s Lukas Franzen-Jones took a tumble in the penalty area, the Dockers were convinced it was a penalty and surrounded the match referee demanding a spot kick and the dismissal of Kyle Sim the last defender, after consulting with his assistant, the referee awarded a free kick to the Dockers two yards outside the box but took no action against Sim. A long debate followed in the boardroom at half-time with the general consensus being that Sim was lucky to get away with it.

However with the benefit of hindsight and video evidence after the game, the referee must be praised for not buckling under pressure, video evidence clearly showed that no foul was committed by the Heath defender and with the resulting free kick blasted high over the crossbar no damage was done to the Bears.

Five minutes into the restart and Heath had a great chance to double their lead when a misplaced Mason Doughty shot found its way to Jamie Chesworth on the edge of the Newhaven penalty area but the defender badly sliced his shot and the chance was lost. Within a minute it was all square a rare mistake at the back by Ryan Brackpool allowed Franzen-Jones to break away, the defender got back to block his goal attempt but the ball spun in the air before falling to Charlie Bennett who converted from closer range.

That goal spurred on the Dockers who were now swarming all over the Bears in search of a second and that came on the hour mark when a corner from the right was only half-cleared by the Bears defence, a low cross was played back into the danger area where Jack Meeres reacted quickest to steer the ball past Matthews into the net.

At this stage with the Dockers in full flight it seemed inevitable that a third would follow but after a flurry of substitutes the Bears gradually got back into the game and the final 10 minutes saw them create some good chances, some goal mouth scrambles, even Matthews spent the final minutes in the opposition half but it wasn’t to be and the Dockers held on to win the match.

So ended the Bears Peter Bentley Cup Challenge for another year – but with the RUR Cup still to come, it could still be the Bears’ year.

BBH: Matthews, Frankland (Pickering 80), Chesworth, Weller, Sim, Brackpool, Parmiter, Evans (Clark 70), Barbary (Taylor 70), Lemon (Symonds 80), Doughty (Stephenson 55).