Bamber Bridge 3 FC United 0

By John Hill

Bamber Bridge cruised to a 3-0 victory over league favourites FC United in a record league crowd of 1435 at Irongate.

After losing to the Manchester United breakaway club 5-0 last month, you would have expected Phil Entwistle's men to be in for a tough afternoon but it was far from the case.

Brig were on top all afternoon in all areas of the pitch, out battling United, to send out a clear message to the rest of the division.

It took 11 minutes for the opening goal of the game. Stephen Brown's cross from the right should have been easily caught by Sam Ashton in the FCUM goal but he dropped the ball right into the path of Brig's leading tallies man Ryan Salmon, who was never going to miss from close range.

Bamber Bridge almost doubled their lead just minutes later. Brown's cross found Alex Porter unmarked in the box, his shot was terrifically saved by Ashton in the United goal, to make up for his previous howler.

FC United did respond in the last ten minutes of the opening half and showed a bit of class that you would expect from the side flying high in the division. However, the Brig weathered the storm to hold on to their lead going into the interval.

If the message at half time from manager Phil Entwistle was to kill the game off then they certainly did that in the opening ten minutes of the second half.

Brig came out after the break like a house on fire. They were rewarded with their second of the game after 51 minutes, David Eaton opening his Bamber Bridge account, drilling home from 12-yards.

Then just three minutes later, it was effectively game, set and match. Brown who was terrific all afternoon whipped a free kick in to the box and there was Salmon to flick home comfortably for his second of the game.

In all fairness Bamber Bridge could have had more but with an impressive display and result to go with it, this can now be a catalyst for their season ahead.

9:39am today

19/11/07