FA Cup preliminary round: Bridgwater Town 3, Minehead 1.

MINEHEAD could hold their heads up high despite a 3-1 defeat at Bridgwater Town in the FA Cup on Saturday.

The Blues gave a spirited display and even took the lead against their BGB Southern League hosts whose strength eventually told in the second half.

Player-manager Steve Perkins was delighted with his side's performance.

"I was ever so proud of the boys," he said.

"We were up against a good Southern League side and certainly didn't let ourselves down.

"We battled for everything and stuck to our task really well, I couldn't have asked for anything else.

"The lads went out their with specific instructions and they took it all on board which hasn't always been the case.

"We denied them space to play and never stopped closing them down.

"We grew in confidence after the goal and played some decent football.

"We got a lot of praise from their supporters which was nice to hear."

Predictably, Bridgwater enjoyed the bulk of possession from the start but Minehead coped well defensively, with Dave Gelby, Greg Howard and Steve Arnold, on his return to the club, outstanding.

And it was they who took a shock lead after 26 minutes when Craig Carr's corner sailed directly into the far corner of the net.

Bridgwater huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser but Minehead continued to repel them without too many worries.

That was until the stroke of half-time when they momentarily switched off and Dan Forward fed Nat Pepperell, who fired low last Chris Meredith.

Minehead had a golden chance to regain the lead with only their second effort on goal, but Andrew Gubb, who had a fine game in defence, fired over the bar after being put through by Carr.

That was to be the Blues' last opportunity as Bridgwater laid siege to their goal with Gelby and Meredith in particular, coming to their team's rescue.

The pressure eventually told in the 72nd minute when Steven Orchard headed a centre back across goal and Forward forced the ball over the line.

The home team made sure of their victory five minutes from time when Meredith failed to gather a miscued cross and Forward scored from a tight angle.

Bridgwater now take on Paulton or St Blazey in the first qualifying round and pocket £1,000 in prizemoney.

Minehead: Chris Meredith, Mike Mullins, Andrew Gubb, Dave Gelby, Greg Howard, Steve Arnold, Simon Lyons, Steffan Phillips, James Browning, Craig Carr, Chris Yates. Subs: Sam Hutchings, Jack Furse, Andy Hall (used), Steve Sully, Lee Parfitt (not used).

LAST Wednesday, Minehead suffered their third straight defeat in Division One of the Toolstation League when they went down 3-1 away to Clevedon Utd.

Lee Todd was Minehead's scorer.