United were the better side for long periods but poor defending cost them the points against a hard-working Dereham side.

Newly-promoted Bridgham gave debuts to Lee Freeman, Kenny Brooks, James Dean and Scott Hassey.

But they suffered the worst possible start when they went 1-0 down after 20 seconds after some poor defending.

It seemed to take Bridgham half-an-hour to get over the shock of the early goal when finally, after some good play, Jason Conroy fired home for 1-1.

Bridgham started to look the better side but they conceded again just before half-time when Dereham scored with a fine strike.

Dereham increased their lead after 53 minutes, with a close-range header.

Bridgham battled on and scored a second goal after 69 minutes from man of the match Conroy.

At this point two key refereeing decisions went against Bridgham. First an apparent pull back on Scott Marketis in the penalty area went unpunished and then Bridgham had a goal disallowed by the Dereham linesman when it appeared to be a good goal.

After 87 minutes Bridgham were still pushing for an equaliser when Dereham broke and secured the points with a fourth goal.

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Division Two
Dickleburgh 3 Swaffham Town A 1
Dickleburgh kicked off their league campaign with an impressive victory.

Dickleburgh got off to the perfect start with a goal after only seven seconds.

It came when Swaffham kicked off and passed the ball back but the defender slipped and was robbed by Jordan Balls, who squared for Martin Kent to tap into a empty net from six yards.

After 25 minutes Dickleburgh doubled their lead when Balls' vicious cross was spilled by the keeper and Joe Hanner was on hand to smash the ball in from close range.

On the stroke of half-time the visitors pulled a goal back.

The second half was a much better performance by Dickleburgh and they created a number of chances.

Dickleburgh got the all important third goal they needed when James Casbard played a perfect ball through to Joe Hanner, who turned his man inside out and slotted the ball under the keeper.

Dickleburgh almost added a fourth when Glen Orford released Ryan Jackson down the left and his superb cross found Casbard at the back post but his header went just over the bar.

Man of the match was Tom Bobbins for a competent performance in centre midfield.