MELKSHAM TOWN 1 BRIDPORT 0

BRIDPORT hope goalscoring postman Ryan Dovell can deliver them an early Christmas present on Saturday as they try to arrest a run of six league games without a win.

Work commitments deprived the Bees of their star striker on Saturday as they went down to a narrow defeat at Melksham despite having the best chances on the day.

But Dovell is back this weekend when Bridport host Barnstaple Town, the side rooted to the bottom of the Toolstation Western Premier Division, eight points adrift of the Bees and Wells City.

Assistant-manager Mike Savage put the reverse in Wiltshire down to a combination of poor finishing, good goalkeeping and bad luck but having Dovell available again will undoubtedly give the team a much-needed lift.

“Ryan is a postman so around Christmas time he has to work every other weekend,” explained Savage. “But he will be back on Saturday which is a big boost for us.

“It’s important we keep trying and don’t get too despondent but we’re in a dogfight at the bottom of the table and need a few good results.

“We changed to a 4-4-2 formation against Melksham and we have to be attack-minded if we want to improve our position.

“I believe we should stick with it on Saturday, the boys enjoyed it and we played really well and with the personnel we’ve got it suits us.”

Man-of-the-match Michael Hailu put Dean Ritchie in for the Bees’ first chance against Melksham but he dragged his shot just wide then Hailu’s header was well kept out by the home keeper.

Chris Luke found Dan Wise on the half hour but his effort was smothered by the keeper’s legs and just before the interval Sam Filkins had to be on his guard to keep out Melksham’s first shot on target.

Bridport’s best chance came on the hour. Ryan Hayter’s ball in from the right fell for Ritchie six yards out but instead of going for it with his head he decided to let it bounce by which time the Melksham keeper was able to block.

Five minutes later, Bridport surrendered possession and the hosts made them pay with what proved to be the winner, leaving the Bees with just one win from their last 13 league games.

Savage added: “I can’t be too critical of the effort the lads put in, we just needed a little bit of luck in front of goal.

“If we had scored I think we would have gone on to win comfortably. Hopefully this weekend we can turn things around.”

The Bees beat Barnstaple 2-1 in the reverse fixture on the opening day of the season while their opponents were thrashed 8-0 by Bishop Sutton last Saturday.

Bees: S Filkins, Hayter, C Clarke (J Filkins 75), S Buckler, M Buckler (Evans 80), Wise, Luke, Legg, Condliffe, Ritchie (B Clarke 65), Hailu