Opening Day Defeat

The game was played in heavy drizzle. Bears thought they had the lead in the opening minutes when Paul Taylor whipped in a corner and Tom Pope headed home - referee thought otherwise and ruled it out for a foul - no idea why.
Pope was almost in again, but was denied by a superb last minute tackle. The home keeper then pulled off a great save to deny Darren Chardwick.
Longridge took the lead on 25 minutes. A charge towards the Bears goal led to a decent challenge from the Bears defence - the ref again thought otherwise and gave a free-kick to the home side, in the aftermath, Bears manager Richard Duffy was shown a Red Card. The free kick was whipped in, crashed against the bar and Newton was there to fire home the rebound.
A minute later another disallowed goal for the Bears. Kepler in the home goal jumped to catch a cross but collided wih a defender and dropped the ball, Daniel Needham tapped into the empty net, but the whistle had gone for a foul, on the keeper!

Longridge doubled their lead on 52 minutes from the penalty spot - the awarding of which made little sense. A free-kick to Longridge was whipped in, David Parton punched it clear under pressure - the attacker fell down - the referee pointed to the spot. Fletcher hammered the spot kick home.
Longridge were reduced to 10 men after a reckless challenge by Connor Linighan on 80 minutes.
The Bears finally got on the scoresheet on 82 minutes. A strong run down the left by Jordi Nasaki, saw him cross low into the box and in a mele of players, Thomas Hampton fired goalwards, the ball clearly struck a defenders arm on the line and initially we all thought the refree had said play on, but no, the assistant referee said the shot had crossed the line, goal was given
The final minutes saw the Bears pile on the pressure and Pope and Jonathan Beaumont both had half chances. Mackenzie Faulkener had a great chance when a cross was headed down to him by Beaumont but his shot from 6 yards was blocked by the keeper.
Full Time whistle brought much relief for the home team.