Broadbridge Heath welcomed promotion hopefuls Croydon Athletic to The BodyMould Community Stadium on Saturday with the visitor’s hoping to continue their excellent run of form that has seen them win seven of their last eight league matches, moving up to second place in the table, six points behind the leaders and still with a chance of automatic promotion.

On a cold blustery afternoon it was the visitor’s who had the first attempt on goal on nine minutes when Charlie Colkett received the ball some 20 yards from goal and shifted the ball onto his left foot before hitting a shot just wide of the post.

At the other end Louis Evans played the ball out wide to Yuvi Mann who cut inside before striking a left foot shot from 25 yards that flew narrowly wide of the post into the side netting and minutes later Mason Doughty tried his luck with a left foot shot from distance but he pulled his shot wide of the target and it remained 0-0 at the break with neither goalkeeper forced to make a save.

The visitor’s broke the deadlock 6 minutes into the restart when a corner from the right was played into the Heath danger area where it was cleared by Sal Marino before being worked back in with a pass to the far post to Reece Grant who headed in from close range.

Heath responded well with Charlie Pitcher’s right foot shot from just outside the penalty area saved by Croydon’s goalkeeper Amadou Tangara but it was the visitor’s who doubled their lead on the hour mark when a clumsy challenge by Brad Peters on a Croydon forward saw the Referee point to the penalty spot and Harvey Kedwell stepped up to fire a right foot shot into the top right of the net doubling his sides lead.

Both sides had opportunities to add to the score but it wasn’t until time-added on that Croydon made sure of the result when David Bremang scored their third with a left foot shot past the advancing Heath goalkeeper Alfie Hadfield.

The result see Croydon Athletic continue their good run of form, while Heath will be looking to increase their points tally in their final four games of the season.

Team: Hadfield, Wooster (Hafton 80), Gibson, Napper, Hyde (Peters 46), Richardson, Doughty, Marino (Connell 69), Pitcher (Bejashvili 59), Evans, Mann (Abudiore 75).