SHORTWOOD UNITED 0

BRIDPORT 1

BRIDPORT held on to register their second consecutive Toolstation Western League Premier Division victory with a 1-0 success over pointless Shortwood United.

Leighton Thomas was the Bees’ match-winner, finishing off a simple team move in the first half involving Cameron Vere, Kam Andrews and Oscar Latas, but Adam Fricker’s men were almost made to pay for missing several other clear-cut chances.

Mark Salter headed wide a Latas cross while sub Sam Clark missed from an acute angle in the second half.

Shortwood, beaten in every one of their previous 14 league games, applied severe pressure in the closing stages with a flurry of long balls into the Bees’ box, without creating good opportunities.

However, the Bridport defensive unit, marshalled by the experience of Chris McGrath, held firm to close out a win that elevates the West Dorset side to 11th in the standings.

Speaking to Echosport following the encounter, boss Fricker admitted his charges had made hard work of the contest.

He said: “We could’ve made it a lot easier for ourselves. The first 20 minutes we were all over them, Leighton missed a couple of one-on-ones with the keeper.

“We gave them encouragement and made it difficult for ourselves towards the end, to be perfectly honest.

“It certainly wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, one of our better performances.”

Missed chances have been a recurring theme for Bridport this season and Fricker voiced his displeasure with the Bees’ performance, despite taking all three points.

He said: “I was frustrated with the performance itself. No disrespect to Shortwood, they are struggling. They’re a team that’s certainly in transition at the moment.

“It was one of those games that was always going to be a bit of a banana skin because they will pick up points sooner rather than later and you just don’t want to be that team that lets them pick up their first points.

“I said to the lads afterwards ‘first and foremost we’ve kept a clean sheet and we’ve picked up the three points’, which is what you go up there to do.

“We’re obviously happy with the result but we could’ve made it more comfortable for ourselves.”

Talking through the goal, Fricker said: “It came from literally three passes. Cam played it to Kam Andrews, who played Oscar in down the right-hand side.

“Oscar pulled it back and Leighton smashed it in, so it was just basics, really, which is what we were encouraging them to do all game.”

Bridport next host Buckland on Saturday (3pm).

Bees: Hutchings, Latas, Vere, McGrath (Condliffe 75), Martin, Sweet, Symes, Andrews, Peach (Wood 80), Thomas (Clark 65), Salter. Sub not used: Morris