A miserable rainy day in the St Anne’s area of Bristol was the setting for this week’s Evening Post Star Match, and by the state of the pitch by the end of the fixture, this may have been the only reason this game was allowed to be finished.

Both teams started brightly, with Town playing some good football all over the pitch. However, it was the home side that first caused some real trouble…Roger Smith deputising for the injured Palmer being called upon to make a number of smart stops early on.

As the centre of the pitch started to become loose and start acting more like a mud bath than a grass football pitch, Bradley Stoke found joy moving the ball down the flanks. This proved to be the most effective method of attack. With both Andy Forshaw and Ben Osborne combining well and Joe Williams finding acres of space on the left.

Unfortunately for Town, the deadlock was broken shortly before half time with a breakaway that caught the away side off guard. Osborne was left with two men at the back post following a lofted ball and he was unable to prevent the shot coming in. Smith had no chance from such close range.

Half time arrived, just moments after a hail storm developed. Bradley Stoke regrouped and set out to claw their way back into the game utilising the remaining grass down the flanks.

Within minutes of the restart, Joe Williams gambled on a cross field ball from Osborne and was able to sneak in front of the fullback to poke the ball home from close range. Back on level terms and playing much better football than the strong home side.

Bloomfield managed to get ahead again, but this was against the run of play and created greater drive in Bradley Stoke.

In true striker instinct, Liam Dixon reacted quickest from a goalkeeper spill following an Andy Forshaw shot to slide the ball into the net.

But, for some reason, at 2-2, it was as though Town felt that was all they had to give in the now awful energy sapping conditions. The heads dropped and allowed Inter to take charge of the game. Even with a couple of personnel changes, the side still looked deflated.

Bloomfield managed to capitalised on two long balls to firstly knock one across the goal for a sliding player at the far post to tap home and secondly to drive the ball into the half open goal at the near post (Smith out of position courtesy of the lack of pitch markings!).

A disappointing result, but the team will have to put the loss behind them and move on. It was a very difficult game in bad conditions that didn’t suit our style of play.

Match report courtesy of James Palmer.