Fired up from a fine cup win last weekend, Bradley Stoke Town took to the field at home for a second week in a row with the intention of creating a good home record and causing an upset with one of the favoured teams in the division.

Both teams started brightly, with fairly even blows exchanged between the two sides for the first 15 minutes. However, a slight lapse in concentration from the home side and seemingly being overrun in their own third, enabled Inter The Bloomfield to take the lead with a well taken finish.

However, this lead lasted only a matter of seconds as Ashley Lloyd floated a glorious cross field ball into the path of Liam Dixon to take in his stride on the edge of the box, dribble in a slot home the equaliser.

Following the equaliser, bickering began to break out in the ranks of the Inter The Bloomfield side as the seemed to prefer to try to bully their way into taking the lead again. However, the home side continued to play football and not get sucked into any verbal or physical combat. This tact frustrated the away side who gave away a penalty for a blatant tug on the shirt of Paul Skipp from a corner kick. Up stepped Dave Stephens who put away the penalty kick confidently.

There was a forced change just before half time with Craig Potter coming off struggling with heart burn! However that allowed Joe Willimas on to stake a claim for a regular first team spot…and he didn’t disappoint. There was also a reaccurance of a thigh strain that forced captain James Collis-Pritchard to retire early at half-time to be replaced by Any Forshaw, with Paul Skipp stepping in at the back.

The calm and flowing football that Bradley Stoke continued to play frustrated Inter even more in the second half and chances began to come more frequently for the home side. A third goal came courtesy of a Dave Stephens. And, with a two goal lead, Bradley Stoke were surely home and dry. However, a speculative ball followed by a hopeful chase from the Bloomfield striker allowed them to pull it back to a one goal deficit.

It was then that the true class of the home side shone through with Forshaw creating a goal running down the right to cross in for Dixon to finish. And then following some additional pressure, an Andy Gray corner flew in off the defender attempting to clear at the near post.

Final score was 5-2 and a deserved win by Bradley Stoke Town. Man of the Match went to Paul Skipp for his solid performance in midfield and in stepping in to cover at the back. Other very noticeable performances came from Mark Harwood with a strong display at Right back, Ash Lloyd causing havoc every time he got the ball and Joe Williams who gave a great account of himself as an early substitute.

Match report courtesy of James Palmer.