After a week off last Saturday due to a postponement with the game at Weymouth, Sturminster Marshall travelled to Bridport for a difficult game following a 2-2 reverse at home earlier in the season. Considering a number of players missing, such as Neville, Wood, Jones and J. Geddes, this was always going to make for a difficult encounter.

Any nerves to be had going into the match were soon settled when early link up through the middle saw the captain Williams slipping S. Thomas in down the left hand side. The pace of the wide man allowed him to drive past two defenders and coolly slide the ball under the onrushing keeper. 1-0.

However, this seemed to make the away side take their foot off the gas and they allowed a quick and physical Bridport side to come at them. The ball did not seem to stick and Stur's passing game deserted them for a while; a stray pass out from the back from Gage allowed Bridport to counter, and the home side nearly made the most of it, although an arriving striker's finish let him down when well placed to equalise.

It took Marshall a while to settle back into any sort of rhythm on a bobbly surface, and hence they resorted to picking channels to play in. At this point the game was end to end and really anyone's to control. Consequently the second goal for Stur was vital. Following a dangerous through ball, the home keeper came out and handled the ball outside his area, granting Stur a dangerous free kick. After deliberation between Manuel and Goodwin, Goodwin ran up, blasting the ball low and  into the bottom right-hand corner. 2-0.

From this point the away side settled down and began to enjoy their football, with the returning Gareth Thomas sweeping up in front of the new central defensive pairing of Reynolds and Griffiths.

The second half started similarly to much of the first half, with Stur uneasy with their touch and sometimes hesitant in their approach play. Bridport too were fired up, hoping to resurrect any hopes of a result with a resurgent opening to the half. For the most part, Marshall held out strongly, without a clear cut chance to note from the game for Bridport.

Again, as the half wore on, Stur grew into the game and began to exploit the channels and create chances on the break presented by the more attacking mentality of the Bridport side.

With no more than twenty minutes remaining, a long throw into the box from Gage was cleared back to the youngster, who whipped a deep cross to the back post, where Williams was once again on hand to provide for his team mates. His downward header allowed Geddes to attack the ball, headering low and to the right, avoiding the despairing dive of the home keeper.

This seemed to finally knock the stuffing out of Bridport, and from here it was a simple task of keeping the ball and seeing the game through.

The final whistle spelt the third consecutive clean sheet for the defence, something which they will be looking to continue next week at home to Cranborne, particularly considering the lacklustre manner of defeat away to the side sitting second from bottom in the table no more than one month ago.