Three Bridges and Burgess Hill Town play out goalless draw in derby

The classic phrase ‘a game of two halves’ described the action perfectly.

In the first-half it was Burgess Hill who did all the attacking, with Bridges not mustering a single shot on goal.

And Bridges had 17-year-old Leo Anderson to thank for going in level at the break.

Scott Kirkwood and Connor Tighe saw shots fly just over the bar in the early exchanges before Anderson pulled off brilliant saves from Martyn Box and Joshua Luther in the space of a minute.

The first was a low save to his left as the ball looked destined to hit the bottom corner. The second save was low to his right when Luther found himself in space after poor Bridges defending.

Pat Harding then had an effort on goal just before the half-time whistle but Anderson again stood strong and kept out the veteran striker.

The second-half was a different story to the first, with Burgess Hill this time failing to create anything of great note and the away side doing all the pushing.

Hill keeper Taylor Seymour almost played his side into trouble as a dismal clearance was met by Brannon O’Neill. His shot from long range was saved awkwardly and Ben Bacon failed with the follow-up attempt.

Towards the hour mark Callum Chesworth went on a direct run but his tame shot was easily saved by Seymour. The youngster then had the best chance of the game five minutes later.

Curtis Gayler sent in a low cross which was met by Chesworth at the back post on a stretch and Seymour got back on his line to tip it round the post.

Dan Perry had come on to replace Bacon midway through the half and had chances to get shots off on goal but couldn’t sort his feet out on consecutive occasions, whilst Gayler had two efforts; one whistled just past the post whilst another was batted away by Seymour.

In the end the game petered out and both teams took a share of the points.

Bridges travel to Corinthian on Tuesday night, before hosting Cray Valley PM this Saturday.