Away to Shaftesbury Crusade on a cold, grey and miserable afternoon.
From the kick off it was clear that this game was going to be physical, bodies clattering into each other and comments to follow. Quite early in the game Bradley Stoke’s leading goal scorer Jerry Harper gracefully turned his marker leaving an easy shot on goal but before he could pull the trigger he was brutally chopped down in the box. The referee standing very close to the assault waved play on leaving Harper injured on the pitch. After the challenge, Harper rightly complained about the challenge as he limped from the pitch unable to continue, the referee proceeded to insult him and threaten to send him off for complaining. Needless to say the referee was one of their players as there was no neutral ref. allocated to this match. So as the half continued Stoke defended well against the 12 man opposition. Mark Palmer had a good opportunity, but just failed to make a good contact with a close range header following a fast Bradley Stoke move.  James Palmer came closest with a counter attack and 35-yard shot that sailed just over the crossbar, although Crusade had the majority of the possession during the half.

Although not as obvious as the first half, the second half still continued in it hostile tension. The work rate of both teams raised and the game became a blistering speed of end to end football with poorer passing and a steady rate of fouls. James Palmer had another great shot that was pushed out of the top corner, with other shots just wide of the target. At the other end Tom Hutchings and Brian Stewart were closing down most attacks before they got into dangerous positions.
Another rouge challenge happened as James Palmer breaking away down the left wing was eyed up for a leg breaking slide tackle, thankfully he jumped clear of the lathing legs that only ended up with the tackler injuring himself, justice. Towards the end of the game Crusade finally got lucky as a shot skimmed off the head of Stewart to carry the ball just over the keepers reach. Stoke did not give up, they pushed hard to get the equaliser which never came. In the dying seconds Crusade got a break away and slipped the ball into the net for an unworthy 2-0 win.

Match report courtesy of Roger Smith.