TREVOR Senior was proud of his side’s character and believes that the response they showed in the second half at St Mary’s Field on Tuesday could stand them in good stead for their away trip to Bishop Sutton on Saturday (3pm).

Bridport are likely to be without Chris Senior with a groin injury and will be hoping Matt Condliffe will be fit for the fixture, after he took a knock in midweek.

Commenting on this weekend’s away fixture, Senior added: “We will go to Bishop Sutton in good spirit.

“We have got to go up there and try and bounce back, it is still early days at the moment.”

The Bees’ boss witnessed an action-packed contest that had it all two days ago, as his side eventually succumbed to a 4-2 defeat against Willand Rovers.

Bridport went in at the break 3-0 behind, but that only told half the story in an opening 45 minutes full of incidents and questionable refereeing decisions.

While Senior admitted the visitors were strong and inventive on their set-piece moves throughout the encounter, he believed that some of the decisions leading up to the goals were open for debate.

“I don’t want to go on about decisions but for the first goal, the ball had gone out for a goal kick and the assistant gave a corner, from that they scored,” he said.

Following that, Bees’ striker Ryan Dovell had claims for a penalty waved away and a clear-cut chance fell to Tom Richardson, but Devon-based Willand were given the opportunity of a free header from another set-piece to make it two.

Chris Senior then couldn’t make the most of a rebound from Dan Wise’s free-kick, and then the Bridport boss was left to ponder yet another call by the officials for the away side’s third goal.

He added: “The linesman flagged for offside against them and after that we conceded a foul, the linesman put his flag down and gave them a free-kick which they scored from.

“We were 3-0 down and we probably had the three best chances of the half. I think that the decisions do even out over the season though, and the officials have to work as a team the same as we do.”

But with the game seemingly up for the Bees, they rallied in the final five minutes with goals coming from substitutes Rhys Hayter and Jamie Symes to make it 3-2 and set up a grandstand finish.

Hayter was then in again at the far post and had a header at goal cleared off the line by a visiting defender.

But with only one Bridport man back, Willand went up the other end and scored in the dying moments to make it 4-2.

Senior added: “All in all it was eventful, it was exciting, and I was pleased with the character we showed to come back in the second half.

“After the game the lads were still upbeat, we didn’t get any points out of it but the people that were watching will realise it could have been a lot different.”

Bees: Weeks, J Filkins, Condliffe, Clarke, Senior (Stewart 46), Ry Hayter, A Symes (Rh Hayter 80), Wise, Richardson, Dovell, Morley (J Symes 70)

Man of the match: Jamie Filkins

Attendance: 61