VERWOOD TOWN 4

BRIDPORT 2

BRIDPORT were knocked out of the Dorset Senior Cup by lower-league Verwood Town as the Bees fell to a 4-2 quarter-final defeat at Potterne Park.

Verwood, who play in the tenth-tier Wessex Division One – a division below the Bees – went behind as Declan Cornish darted in from the left and found the far top corner for his second goal in two games.

Bridport’s lead lasted just two minutes as Callum Butler seized upon a defensive mistake to slot past keeper Jordon Scadding.

Verwood’s Oliver Davies and Lee Vint combined to help set up Butler’s second on 22 minutes, the duo shifting the ball to Owen Nicholson who supplied Butler to steer past Scadding.

Nicholson grazed the post with an effort before Butler sealed a first-half hat-trick in the 43rd minute with a clinical close-range finish.

Verwood added a fourth two minutes after the break as Vint raced onto Russell Dyer’s ball over the top before beating Scadding.

Bridport pressed on and added a second when Riley Greenwood-Neate found the top corner after a quickly-taken free-kick, but the Bees were well beaten as Verwood progressed.

Speaking to the Bridport News, Bridport assistant-boss Kevin Leigh said: “It was definitely disappointing. After the Saturday game (2-0 win over Cadbury) we thought ‘oh, we could push on from here’.

“Saturday’s game took it out of us because the lads put in everything – and I mean everything.

“In midweek we seem not to be able to get the same side out.

“To be honest, we started off great – we were creating chances.

“They were a good side though, they were at it. They defended as a team, attacked as a team and played very, very well.

“Our defence – it wasn’t one of their best games. We didn’t attack the ball, we waited for things, people went by us too easily.

“So in that respect it was quite poor defending for most of the game.”

Bees: Jo Scadding, Gall, Holmes (Beals 58), Butcher, Salter, Warren (Greenwood-Neate 58), Handyside, Gape, Cornish, Pinder, Westlake (Coombs 58).