Bramford welcomed one of the pre-season favourites Hadleigh to Acton Road in what could see Bramford take another step closer towards their first 1st Division title. Hadleigh season was not as easy and has not gone as well as they had hoped. With fixtures being postponed and players not performing to their best you can say this season is a complete write off for them.
Starting XI: Joel, Gus, Tom, Reece, Grant, James K, James R, Will, Lewie, Josh, George. Subs: Idy, Logan, Mark
Bramford started the morning really well, and Josh came close when his shot cannoned off the post from a tight angle. Bramford piled more and more pressure on the Hadleigh defence, but they stayed strong, and when we did break past the Hadleigh back 3, Ben Riddleston was there to clear up and be the final wall of defence.
Brandon King and Mark Phillips nonstop running gave them little reward all morning as Bramford kept the ball well and didn’t give them a sniff.
Lewie had a chance to make it 1-0 but a good save from Ben denied him. Ben went on to make 3 more good saves but on 36 minutes the deadlock was finally broken when Hadleigh failed to clear and the ball dropped to Lewie to slot home past Ben.
Hadleigh could have had an equaliser against the run of play when Mark Phillips swung in a decent corner for the Hadleigh Centre back to hit the post.
James K was causing a threat down the right hand side and Josh and George finally re-united up top looked decent again.
The 2nd half Hadleigh started quicker and got their reward, minutes after the break, another decent ball put in by Mark, saw the Centre Back volley the ball into the top corner to make it 1-1.
If anything this spurred Bramford on, and after that it was constant pressure from the home side. Again a fantastic save from Ben when he pushed over a looping shot.
In the end the pressure hit, and Lewie’s run was brought to an end when the Centre Back dived in across him and the ref reward Bramford the penalty kick. George stepped up, and sent Ben the wrong way to make it 2-1 to the hosts.
The 3rd came quickly after with a whole row of mistakes in this goal, a miskicked Joel goalkick which kept low beat the midfield clipping James R’s head on the way through, only to see the Hadleigh Centre back miss the ball completly and which then saw Josh through on goal, Ben went to clear but miskicked the ball aswell, only to see Josh through on an empty goal to slot it home left footed.
Hadleigh only had one more serious go at goal with a Mark freekick deflected only to see it saved by Joel. Bramford saw the game out comfortably and claim all 3 points.
