Toolstation Western League
Premier Division
Bridgwater Town 4, Roman Glass St George 4

JACK Taylor's eight-minute hat-trick could not propel Bridgwater Town to victory on Saturday, as visitors Roman Glass St George fought back from three goals down to claim a share of the points.

The Robins lost hold of a 4-1 half-time lead at Fairfax Park, and also lost goalkeeper Jake Viney to a second yellow card in the second period.

The first chance fell to the hosts, Jake Llewellyn's shot being parried into the path of Sam Towler, but he failed to make the required contact.

Then, with just two minutes played, the away side were ahead – Josh White losing the ball to Ryan Radford, who eased past the rest of the defence and beat Viney.

The Robins seemed shaken by that early goal, but were awarded a penalty 12 minutes later, after Kurt Robinson was tripped by Ryan Dunn, and Llewellyn coolly equalised.

Both goalkeepers then picked up yellow cards, Viney for handling outside of his box after a defensive mix-up, and Josh Dempsey for missing an attempted clearance and clattering Llewellyn instead.

Then, come the last 10 minutes of the half, Bridgwater scored three times in a devastating attacking spell which looked to have won them the game.

All three goals came from ace marksman Taylor, who put his side ahead in the 36th minute having run on to Llewellyn's fine through ball, leaving the high defensive line trailing in his wake.

He then completed his hat-trick with goals in the 43rd and 44th minutes – the first a sharp finish from a lofted ball from halfway, and the second a tap-in after Mark Armstrong and Jake Brown combined to create the chance.

Having led 4-1 at the interval, the Robins appeared to invite their visitors onto the front foot upon the resumption – and they were duly punished.

A long throw fell for Radford to poke the ball past Viney and make it 4-2 on 51 minutes, and just three minutes after that Jason Burt headed in from a corner.

The momentum was with Roman Glass now, and in the 63rd minute they were, improbably, level as another long throw was poorly defended, and Lewis Wentland got his head to it; Viney clawed the ball away but the referee judged that it had crossed the line first.

To be fair to Bridgwater, they did regroup and almost took the lead when Llewellyn cut the ball back, and Brown's shot clipped the top of the bar.

But then they were down to 10 men with 12 minutes to go, as Viney challenged Ken Oni for a bouncing ball, and despite appearing to win the ball the goalkeeper was shown a second yellow after the collision.

Steve Laker donned the gloves but had little work to do, as the game petered out and both sides went away with a point.

Bridgwater, leapfrogged by Willand Rovers at the top of the table, are back in action next Saturday, at home to 17th-placed Chipping Sodbury Town (ko 3pm).

Bridgwater Town: Jake Viney, Charlie White, Kurt Robinson, Josh White, Tom Ellis, Mark Armstrong, Harry Horton, Sam Towler, Jack Taylor, Jake Brown (Steve Laker 78), Jake Llewellyn.
Subs not used: Dave Thorne, Dave Pearse, Ian Bellinger.