Former Portsmouth Academy midfielder Stan Bridgman nets twice on Wessex League debut for Pagham against US Portsmouth

That brace helped the Sussex club to a 4-2 home win in their first-ever Premier Division fixture last night.

US had hit back from conceding the first goal to lead 2-1 through Simon Woods and Dan Sibley.

But Bridgman, who was part of the same Pompey Academy intake as current first team squad member Haji Mnoga, levelled on 39 minutes from a free-kick, his shot going over the wall and in off a post.

Bridgman - who didn’t score at all in 30 appearances for Baffins Milton Rovers last season - completed the Lions’ victory on 74 minutes.

‘He (Bridgman) floated around in midfield and was quite good,’ said US boss Fraser Quirke. ‘On another day we could have got a bit tighter to him, not let him play such an influential role.’

On his competitive managerial debut for US, Quirke said: ‘It’s a new group and we’re still learning.

‘We looked a little under-cooked and I put my hand up there - maybe we could have had an additional friendly.

‘But it’s not all doom and gloom. Whilst we lost, I’m not sat here morose and annoyed.

‘We just need to pick the areas we can learn from and we can get better at.

‘It was ok in patches. Some good, some not so good. The two goals we scored were both well-worked - they were two of the biggest positives.

‘I was a little disappointed with the goal from the free-kick. It was almost telegraphed what was going to happen and we didn’t react.

‘It was relatively even in the second half. We competed well, we weren’t outplayed or outclassed. They were just more clinical than we were.’

Quirke was forced into a first half change when Luke Richards, who had been playing left-back, was forced off with an ankle injury. He was replaced by John Cass, who has just returned to US after leaving midway through last term.