Media Watch - Bridgwater Town

Milsom Calls His Pitch `Horrendous`

Bridgwater Town's joint-manager Kevin Milsom has described the club's main pitch at Fairfax Park as "horrendous".

His comments follow yet another postponement of a home game - against Wimborne Town in the Evo-Stik League Southern Division One South & West on Saturday. "We're playing the price of playing too many games on it," said Milsom, who runs the side along with Dave Pople.

"I've never seen the pitch look so bad in all my years of football at the club. I feel sorry for our groundsman who works so hard in trying to keep it in good shape. I know revenue from loaning out the pitch is very important but it comes at the detriment of the first-team. Even with a modern pitch with good drainage we would still be playing too many games on it," added Milsom.

Andy Venning signs on at Bridgwater Town
Bridgwater Mercury

ANDY Venning has signed on at Bridgwater Town for the remainder of the season. The teenager, who represented Town last season, was due to play against Wimborne Town on Saturday and has been away in Gloucestershire completing his studies.

Venning represented England Schools Under-18s last season in a number of matches after impressing at both Bridgwater College and Bridgwater Town.

Milsom calls for strong start to New Year from Bridgwater
Bridgwater Mercury

“Everything is promising going into the New Year. We've done tremendously well and hopefully we can kick start the second half of the season against Clevedon. We can hopefully push on and see where we're at around Easter time and take things from there. When you get postponements you get a run of games every Saturday and Tuesday later in the season. The games aren't the problem because they come thick and fast - it's the travelling and everything else that goes with it.” said Milsom

A remarkable purple patch saw Bridgwater win seven straight league wins before it came to a grinding halt at table-topping Hungerford. The run propelled them to a lofty sixth place in the table just five points shy of the playoff spots.

“We have to bounce back and there's no reason why we can't do that,” added Milsom. “We only lost one game in that spell and we've got immense character in the squad to go out there and show what we're all about. We had a session on Saturday with the squad and everybody should be available.”

Merthyr boss salutes contribution of two-goal Prosser
South Wales Echo

MERTHYR Town boss Garry Shephard paid tribute to striker Ryan Prosser following the Martyrs latest success on the road where the former Ton Pentre striker grabbed a second-half brace.

Prosser joined Merthyr two seasons back and has been a regular goalscorer during Merthyr’s successful Western League campaigns but the signs are clearly evident that his all round game has improved hugely since the Martyrs’ return to the Southern League.

“Ryan has probably been our most consistent player in the past two games but had his reward today,” said Shephard, who watched his Merthyr side fall behind to a Jon Else goal in the opening 45 minutes at North Leigh. “He was involved in all three goals in the second half while his hold up play has been immense.”

Jon Newall fired home to bring Merthyr level on 62 minutes before Prosser scored on 68 and 88 minutes respectively following contributions from Aaron Cornwall and Garyn Preen.

The victory sees Merthyr move up one place in the South and West league table to fourth spot ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Bridgwater. A win there will see them climb to third though it may only be for 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Prosser was quick to appreciate the contributions of his team-mates in the success at North Leigh. “We are very much a team and play that way,” said Prosser. “Sometimes I am able to get on the end of things but sometimes it is one of the other lads and to be honest I don’t mind as long as we win.”

Paulton Rovers claim derby win at Bridgwater Town
Western Daily Press

Paulton Rovers came out on top in the battle of Somerset’s two play-off contenders in Division One South & West of the Evo-Stik Southern League, beating Bridgwater Town 3-1.

Just five minutes had elapsed when Ben Lacey crossed for Scott Brice to head Rovers into the lead. Six minutes later, though, Steve Fitzpatrick replied in kind, sending his header beyond visiting goalkeeper Kyle Phillips.

Rovers re-took the lead just after the half-hour mark when James Billing pounced to score from inside the area.

Tim Legg’s effort struck the underside of the bar for the home side, but Paulton made the game safe 17 minutes from time when Dan Cleverley fired home from 25 yards.

Bridgwater are at home to Merthyr tomorrow (7.45pm)