It was ‘goals galore’ at The BodyMould Community Stadium, home of Broadbridge Heath Football Club when they played host to Sheppey United on Saturday.

The Bears took an early lead within 3 minutes of the start when Luke Bejashvili received the ball just outside the penalty area and struck a right foot shot that deflected off a Sheppey defender, wrong footing goalkeeper Adam Molloy and going in wide to the keeper’s right.

Things got even better for The Bears on 9 minutes when Louis Evans intercepted a pass some 30 yards from goal, ran with the ball at defenders before striking a left foot shot from distance that flew past the diving Molloy for the Heath player’s second goal in four games since returning to the club from Merstham.

Heath made it 3-0 midway through the half when Charlie Gibson’s shot was blocked by a defender. The ball fell kindly for Bejashvili on the edge of the box who hammered a low right foot shot under the diving Molloy for his 8th goal of the season.

The visitor’s pulled a goal back 2 minutes before the break following some nice link up play and exchange of passes between Dami Olorunnisomo and Billy Bennett ending with the former breaking through the Heath defence and slotting home a right foot shot past Heath goalkeeper Alfie Hadfield.

Heath’s response was almost immediate, a Gibson in-swinging corner from the right found its way to Zac Young who bundled the ball across the goal-line from a yard bringing the first half action to an end.

The goals continued to flow in the second half and the deficit was reduced within a minute of the restart when a long diagonal pass from right to left saw Sheppey’s Rolando Onu drive forward and play a left foot cross into the penalty area, no real danger with only Heath’s Bradley Peters running back and attempting to power a header out for a corner but instead the ball flew past Hadfield for a contender for ‘own goal of the season’ giving the Heath keeper no chance of stopping.

Things got even better for the visitor’s 2 minutes later when a throw-in from the left near the Sheppey dugout was picked up by Onu who cut inside and hammered a low right foot shot from distance beyond Hadfield and suddenly it was ‘game on’.

Heath continued to create the better chances with Evans being denied a second by a brilliant full length diving save from Molly to push the ball wide of the post; while at the other end Daniel Bradshaw almost got his team level when he beat the offside trap to run through and strike a low right foot shot from distance that beat Hadfield but cannoned off the post to safety.

Zac Young helped Heath supporters breathe easier on 65 minutes with his second of the match, Evans received the ball on the halfway line and immediately played it out wide right to allow Young to run at the Sheppey defence, Young carried the ball down the right, cut inside, skipped a challenge drove into the penalty area, skipped past another challenge before stabbing a left foot shot under Molloy for his 11th goal of the season.

A period of calm then ensued with neither side creating too many chances until the 84th minute when the visitor’s scored their fourth to reduce the deficit to a single goal. A simple enough goal, Michael Ademiluyi advanced down the left flank before crossing to the far post where it was met by the head of an unmarked Daniel Bradshaw to score from 4 yards.

A nervy few minutes for The Bears with the visitor’s probing an equaliser which almost came in injury time when a deep cross from the right into the Heath penalty area was won by Sheppey skipper Lex Allan whose downward header was saved low to his left by Hadfield and with that the game came to an end.

Team: Hadfield, Marino (Staight 65), Gibson, Connell, Hyde (Peters 42), Terry, Bejashvili (Dowdell 72), Romain, Young, Evans, Abudiore (Cousins 72).