Broadbridge Heath power to win over Three Bridges… Horsham YMCS lose at Lingfield

Broadbridge Heath 3 Three Bridges 0

Isthmian south east

Broadbridge Heath are celebrating a vital midweek derby win over Three Bridges.

Heath welcomed their local rivals to the Bodymould Stadium on a perfect evening for football. Heath were still without Ashley Mutongerwa, who is away, and the only change from Saturday's draw against East Grinstead was Jamie Chesworth coming in for Gideon Achempong.

The reverse fixture between the two sides saw a 4-2 thriller going in favour of Bridges, who have been going well this season.

Heath started brightly and it only took a few minutes before a raking pass from Penfold set Doughty away down the right hand side and the pacy winger beat his man before smashing his shot into the side netting.

Both sides were forcing corners and set pieces without any real threats on goal until the 18th minute when a surging run by Lemon found Aubrey and his effort flashed across the face of the Bridges goal and out for a goal kick.Heath looked up for the battle and on 24 minutes they thought they had the lead when Sim headed in from an Evans corner but a foul had been given on Jasper Sheik in the Bridges goal.On 40 minutes a flowing move by Heath ended with a shot from Evans which Sheik saved well down to his right but Heath only had to wait a couple of minutes before they were in front, a free kick from Chesworth caused mayhem in the Bridges six-yard box and a touch from either Bromage or the Bridges defender sent the ball past Sheik to give Heath a deserved lead at half time of 1-0.

Seven minutes into the restart it was another free kick causing problems for Bridges, the ball coming back off the cross bar for Sim to score but once again it was disallowed for a foul on the keeper, and a minute later a Doughty strike was well saved by Sheik and Aubrey's follow-up went over the bar.Heath had to wait until the 83rd minute to wrap up the game when excellent play by Aubrey beating two or three Bridges defenders then setting up Doughty for Heath's 2nd of the game and his 4th in three games.With Bridges now committing more forward and chasing the game it was Heath who nearly scored again when a Lemon through ball found Doughty and his run and shot was excellently saved by Sheik again.In the last few minutes Heath got the third when a Louis Evans free kick was forced in by Sim to give Heath a 3-0 win and the 3 points they deserved.

MOM; Ben Aubrey

Heath boss Chris Simmons said afterwards: “That was probably one of our best performances this season, every player won their individual battles. After Saturday's disappointment we came out fired up and with it being a local derby and us having five to six ex-Bridges players it seemed to give us the edge against a good side who are having a fantastic season. We now need to take that into the rest of our games this season and push on from here.”

Heath: Hadfield, Chesworth (Achempong 81), Sim, Bromage, Brackpool, Penfold, Evans, Lemon (Lindsey 85), Waddingham (Buchanan 56), Aubrey, Doughty.

Lingfield 4 Horsham YMCA 1

SCFL premier

by Martin Read

This was a game that Horsham YMCA will wish to forget.

After a lively, goal-less first half with nothing to choose between the sides, near neighbour in the table Lingfield scored four times after the interval, with YM only managing to come away with a consolation goal.

Six minutes after the resumption, a failed clearance allowed Jay Simpson to score from a strong strike, before David Heaton doubled Lingfield’s lead.

YM clawed one back direct from a Josh Neathey corner, but that was as good as it got for the Horsham visitors, Simpson scoring twice more to complete his hat trick in added time.

Disappointed YM manager Dean Carden told the County Times: “The first half was close, but we were poor in the second. We’ll be training hard and looking to bounce back on Saturday when we welcome 16th-placed Shoreham to Gorings Mead.”