With the loss last week to Coalpit Heath the season is fundamentally over but with a lovely sunny day in the beautiful surroundings at Eastville Park, it makes you feel good to be alive.(?!) Well…

Fishponds kicked off playing into the sun. Bradley Stoke very much in the same vein as last week appeared to be incapable of thinking for themselves, there was no creative or incisive play only the ability to react to an opponent that was slow and predictable. Early into the game the referee was proving to be a hindrance rather than a help to either side. Late whistles and unclear decision started to niggle at both teams. The only two moments of interest in the first half came both from Ben Osbourne the first was a penetrating run in from the corner of the box as he struck the ball across the keeper who was unable to get down to it, 0-1. Then again later as he got behind the defence and dragged the ball back into a melee of bodies. After bouncing around for a second or two Kevin Gray slide through the ball forcing it into the corner, 0-2. Half Time came with mixed feeling about leading by two goals yet everyone knew Bradley Stoke had played well below their capabilities.

A Quick exchange before the restart saw David Stephens become keeper as Roger Smith joined the forwards. 5 minutes into the half and Bradley Stoke shot themselves in the foot with a suicidal pass across their own box. The ball was intercepted and then Stephens was left with no chance of stopping a close range blast, 1-2. More damaging than the goal was the belief that Fishponds were far from out of this game. Their tackles got harder and there work rate increased dramatically. For a while the game opened up and both teams had scrappy opportunities which most came to no importance. Then Fishponds equalised when the ball was cleared into the body of a Fishponds forward who knocked the ball onto a waiting Fishponds teammate standing in a offside position who slotted it home. Stoke began to raise their game, not a lot, but enough to pin Fishponds back in their half and open up the final third to scoring opportunities. Then Bradley Stoke scored, a thought ball was closed on by the keeper defecting in back to Jerry Harper. Harper drove the ball onto Roger Smith standing just outside the box, Smith then headed the ball on past a challenging defender and another defender standing in the six yard box, 2-3 or was it? The linesman called the referee over and convinced him that the goal was offside because the keeper was 20 yards outside his box. The referee who had little idea of what was going on anyway agreed. Bradley Stoke kept the pressure on Fishponds for sometime without consolation until Chris Tysoe pushed up and had a shot from the top of the D. The ball hit some players blocking his shot and the ball ricocheted straight up in the air. As it came down Smith got under it and headed the ball over the reach of the keeper into the top centre of the net, now 2-3.
In the final moments of the game Ben Osbourne crossed a ball to a row of waiting Bradley Stoke Forwards. Unmarked and first to the ball was Adam Morris who knocked the ball into the far corner, 2-4. A good win that could have been a walk in the park but Bradley Stoke still likes to give the opposition a chance.

Match report courtesy of Roger Smith.