CLEVEDON TOWN 4

BRIDPORT 0

BRIDPORT were dumped out of the Les Phillips Cup in unceremonious fashion as Clevedon took a deserved 4-0 victory in their re-arranged tie to progress to the last 16.

The Seasiders were clearly pumped up after the abandonment of the initial tie, caused by a broken leg to Morgan Williams, and took the lead on nine minutes.

Clevedon worked a move on the right and a curling cross was glanced home by the head of Archie Ferris.

A Bridport side featuring many players short on match fitness after recent injuries kept Clevedon at bay for the majority of the first-half, until a killer blow was delivered just before half-time when Jack Sell swivelled and shot beyond Jason Hutchings.

Bridport again competed well when faced with an arduous task, but struggled to create chances. They fell further behind when Sell scored a superb individual goal, dribbling from the halfway line before coolly slotting home.

Lucas Vowles added the finishing touch with an 87th-minute free-kick to seal the Bees’ exit from the competition.

Speaking to Echosport after exiting the competition, boss Adam Fricker admitted some Bees players were affected by Williams’ injury.

He said: “If I’m perfectly honest, I thought we would struggle.

“We had a lot of players missing and the players that were playing we were asking a lot of them to play a lot football in a short space of time when they’ve just come back from injury.

“Given the circumstances from the last game with the lad’s injury I think it affected quite a few of our players, which surprised me and gave Clevedon the impetus to drive them on.”

Fricker was also disappointed to miss out on cup football, with the Bees’ only opportunity for cup silverware now resting on the Dorset Senior Cup.

He said: “It’s a competition that we felt we should have done better in last season.

“We had a good opportunity last season and got knocked out in the quarter-finals.

“It’s a cup competition that we wanted to go out and win, so it’s disappointing from that perspective but we’re concentrating on the league.

“First and foremost we want to be establishing ourselves in the Western League Premier and pushing ourselves up that table.”

Bees: Hutchings, Vere, McGrath, Rutter (Barfoot 80), Martin, Regan (Andrews 46), Symes, Peach, Richardson, Hull, Salter. Sub not used: Fricker

n Bridport will host Verwood Town in the Dorset Senior Cup quarter-finals after Town beat Hamworthy Recreation 2-1 in the first round. The tie is due to be played on Tuesday, December 4.

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