Fixture

Bridge suffered a heavy away defeat at Shotton, with the home side putting the visitors to the sword. The full strength of the Bridge squad was tested, due to a number of absences. This was always going to be a testing fixture as Shotton gained promotion to Division 1 last year, but found themselves in Division 3 after declining promotion. Shotton enjoyed the majority of the early possession and scored first through number 8 Sargeant who latched onto a loose ball from a defensive Bridge scrum. The next try came from an attacking 5m scrum, flanker Kemp driving to the line. The final try of the half came to the third member of Shotton's back row, Richard Smith, who capped  a great  period of attacking phases to take a pass and dot down in the corner.

It was 15 to nil at half time and Bridge were hoping for an early score after the restart to get back into the match. It was Shotton that started the second half with a bang. Steve Garret took a close pass on a straight run and powered over. The next try resulted from a calamitous mix up by the Bridge  wings in defence. A loose pass under pressure was snaffled up by Smith for his second try. Garett then extended Shotton's lead with another great direct angle run for a try. Things were not going well for Bridge and another defensive mix up reulted in a loose pass that Billy Foster gathered for Shotton's 7th try. To their credit Bridge continued to compete and made several breaks in the match that breached the home defensive line; unfortunately the final pass never quite came off. There was some consolation when Bridge's first real period of pressure resulted in a try for Adam Goodwin, who stretched over from close range for the last score of the game.