Bittons gruelling end of the season schedule that has saw them play Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday for the past 3 weeks continued as they went down 2-0 to Cribbs. Manager Dan Langdon had more than one eye on Thursdays cup final so was keen to rest the majority of his squad. Unfortunately the Reserves were scheduled to play on the same night so a lack of players meant several first team regulars were forced to play 90 minutes only 48 hours before the cup final. The side did however include the guesting Porter as well as first career starts for youth team players Pullman, Thier & Gready & a cameo out of retirement from assistant manager Steve Jones.

Bitton were happy to sit deep against a side that has scored plenty of goal this season and for the majority of the game frustrated Cribbs while also creating several chances of their own. Bitton had already forced a couple of free kicks and corners before Cribbs took the lead from one of their only shots on target of the first half when the impressive Jack Mckenna took a short corner before firing home with Gready only managing to slice his attempted clearance in to the rood of the net. Despite plenty of possession from Cribbs the Ton were next to threaten as Luke Bryan did well down the wing and his cut back found Steve Jones on the edge of the box but his well struck shot was hacked off the line by the covering defender. Bitton continued to work hard and Pullman and Baker in particular were covering a lot of ground. Jones & Bryan linked up several times and on one occasion Bryan appeared to be away when he was cynically chopped down on the edge of the box. Unfortunately Bryans resulting FK fell well wide. Sam Iles looked a threat getting forward from left back for the away side and broke into the box a few occasiosn as well as trying his luck from Distance and on one occasion forced Powell into a fingertip save. Cribbs continued to probe and Andrews and Hodgson saw plenty of the ball in midfield but the Cribbs strike force was well marshalled by Brice & Grimshaw and the half ended 1-0

HT-Bitton 0-1 Cribbs

Cribbs continued to have all the possession with Bitton looking to hit them on the break during the second period. There was a loud penalty appeal early on as Jamie Powell appeared to bring down the striker but the ref waved play on.Powell had to deal with a few long range shots but the pattern of the game never really changed with Cribbs having lots of the ball but failing to really hurt Bitton. Jones then found Gready with a ball into the channel before the 16 yeard old debutant cut inside and curled on towards the far post which was well saved by Dave Hill the visiting keeper. Luke Bryan was causing problems leading the line on his own and despite being outnumbered was still a threat and was unlucky to see his shot go wide after wriggling past several players. Bitton forced a couple of corners towards the end of the game and came close when Brice just headed over before Cribbs finally sealed the 3 points 3 minutes from time when substitute Legge fired past Powell from fully 25 yards with a shot that zipped off the greasy surface. In the final 2 minutes and with Bitton out on their feet Cribbs could have added a couple more goals as they wasted a couple of good chances but the ref blew his whistle allowing out attention to turn to Thursday where we will again be under strength but hopefull of bringing back the cup.

FT-Bitton 0-2 Cribbs

Star man-Steve Jones

Bitton are next in action on thursday 26th April when they play the GFA trophy final at Almondsbury against Brimscombe & Thrupp