Romain seals superb fightback from 2-0 down for 10-man Three Bridges

Against all odds Bridges completed a remarkable fightback away from home to beat Chipstead 4-3.
Two-goal scorer Elliott Romain in action for Three Bridges during their 4-3 victory against ChipsteadTwo-goal scorer Elliott Romain in action for Three Bridges during their 4-3 victory against Chipstead
Two-goal scorer Elliott Romain in action for Three Bridges during their 4-3 victory against Chipstead

A goal down after only ten minutes, their keeper sent-off three minutes later and a sloppy second goal conceded at the start of the second half left most of the away supporters dreading the journey home afterwards, but the efforts of players such as Owen Roberts, Elliott Romain and Tony Garrod paid dividends as Bridges gained their first win in 12 attempts.

An awkward swirling wind that favoured Chipstead in the first half paid dividends after ten minutes when left back Sam Charles floated the ball across and over a stranded Martin Grant.

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The former Chipstead keeper probably thought it couldn’t get any worse, but three minutes later he brought down Stefan Joseph just outside the box and, after consulting with his assistant, the referee had no option but to brandish a red card.

But Chipstead failed to seriously test stand-in keeper Dan Attwater despite the favourable conditions, and Bridges looked content at having only conceded the one goal before the interval.

But that changed within a minute as a poor pass by Williams Peauroux left Marlon Maxwell and Attwater stranded, leaving Chips captain Dan Moody a simple tap-in to put the home side seemingly in the driving seat.

But Bridges were using the windy conditions to their advantage now and home keeper Jordan Kennedy suddenly found himself a very busy man. He was forced to tip over a curling effort by Nigel Brake and he then managed to scramble away a header from Roberts. But he was beaten after 52 minutes when Roberts won a great tackle that set up Lee Carney, who in turn sent Garrod away for a delightful chip over Kennedy.

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Garrod had another cracking effort pushed away but Kennedy’s clearance from Abu Touray after 67 minutes was poor and Romain showed great determination to eventually force the ball over the line for the equaliser.

Five minutes later Bridges were in dreamland when Romain played the ball out to Garrod, whose shot across goal from the right nested nicely into the far corner to give the visitors the lead. And Jon Dollery almost added another immediately but his effort was well blocked.

Instead, within three minutes a free-kick fell to John Montgomery for an equaliser, and Chipstead must have been wondering if they could repeat their feat of coming from 3-2 down to win 4-3 as they had against Folkestone a week earlier. But it was to be Bridges who produced the final thrilling act five minutes from time when Romain let fly from all of 30 yards and saw his shot almost pass through a helpless Kennedy.

A sensational win, but now Bridges need to continue with these battling qualities if they are to move out of the danger zone.

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Bridges: Grant, Djimah, Brake, Roberts, Maxwell, Touray (Golding 85), Peauroux (Dollery 64), Carney, Romain, Garrod, Daniel (Attwater 13).

Unused subs: Parsons, Leach.

Aerotron Man of the Match: Tony Garrod

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