A long trip across Bristol for our first away fixture, the temperture was hot and the humidity was intense.

After losing the toss we played downhill first half.

Bradley Stoke started strong with many positive plays down the middle and right, Ross Cheeseman speed caused them some problems down that line, 2 opportunities fell to Mustapha Jabang with the closest being a header that landed on the cross bar and safely out for a goal kick. The weather darkened, the skys opened and a downpour woke up Talbot. They won a hat full of corners with a burst of pressure, which eventually lead to the first goal. The scorer redirected a low cross into the near corner. For the rest of the half there wasn't much between the 2 teams, each team had its further chances to change the score but nothing really appeared for either team. Also to note that Dave Stevens made some fine saves from distance.

Still raining quite heavily, the second half was a bit misleading. Even though much of the play was around Bradley Stokes half, most of it was balls knocked to deep so Dave had a lot of goal and drop kicks with no heavy pressure. While Bradley Stoke in spurts probably had the better scoring opportunities. Mustapha and Mark Palmer peppered a number of shots around the net, Roger Smith had a freekick deflected a yard wide of the goal and hit the underside of the crossbar. Ross Cheeseman hit the side netting and won some good corners. Craig Potter made a few great runs only to be chopped down or physically removed from the ball and the best chance fell to James Palmer, a rocket of a shot from the top of the box. It had beaten the keeper and was only saved by a heroic header off the line. Getting the feeling this was not to be our day, the game was finished off with an unfortunate sliced clearance into the corner of the net. The overall memory of the game, both teams played well at times, very even in much of the game, Bradley Stoke may have lost 2-0 today but it could have been the other way on a different day. Time to regroup for AXA.

Match report courtesy of Roger Smith.