FOOTBALL: Bridgwater Town battle past Clevedon Town at Fairfax Park

TWO clinical first half-strikes from Jack Taylor and Josh Wadham were enough to give Bridgwater Town their first league win of the 2020/21 season, against Clevedon Town at Fairfax Park on Tuesday night, writes Kerry Miller.

It was the perfect response to Saturday’s ordinary display at Buckland Athletic and came despite Robins co-managers Karl Baggaley and Dave Pearse losing Jake Llewellyn during the day (after he stood on a nail) to add to fellow absentees Conor Bryant (who could be out for a month with an ankle sprain), Ryan Brereton and George Painter.

Clevedon's Ethan Feltham and Glen Hayer both went close in the early stages, but it was the hosts who went ahead on 18 minutes, when Adnan Hiroli's superb cross-field pass from the left was put away with the minimum of fuss by Taylor.

The lead only lasted a minute, though, as Feltham was given too much room and smashed in the equaliser past Jake Viney.

The Robins hit back, and again Hiroli was involved, as he was brought down 25 yards out and Wadham’s free-kick found the bottom corner of Harley Wilkinson’s net.

Glen Hayer then had a goal ruled out for offside and Jay Murray brought a save out of the impressive Viney as it remained 2-1 at the break.

The action continued after it, too, as Bridgwater played some fast-paced football but Clevedon were having the larger percentage of the play, with Archie Ferris almost taking advantage of a sleeping home defence.

It was a rare error in what was a gritty performance at the back, with Jordan Greenwood again superb alongside Tom Ellis, the pair mopping up anything Clevedon’s young and skilful side could throw at them.

The teams traded chances late on but the home supporters among the 293 in attendance breathed a collective sigh of relief at the final whistle, as it brought the first league points and a welcome boost before Saturday’s home FA Cup clash with Vase semi-finalists Bitton.