HAMWORTHY UTD RES 2 BRIDPORT RES 0

SHAUN Annetts was proud of the way his Bridport side performed at the County Ground on Saturday after they had to play for a large portion of the second half with only nine men.

Sam Day and Chris Herbst received their marching orders within five minutes of each other following the interval, giving the Bees, who were trailing 2-0, a mountain to climb.

The Hammers also had Callum Ballard dismissed later in the Dorset Premier League clash but they held out to claim the three points.

Josh Rose had given the hosts the lead from the spot when Luke King was penalised for a trip which Bridport boss Annetts felt was an accident.

The goal aside, Annetts was delighted with how the Bees played in the first period – they just couldn’t take advantage of the chances they created.

And they were caught by a sucker-punch immediately after the restart as Brad Miles doubled the Hammers’ lead.

Bridport more than held their own after Day was given a straight red card and Herbst picked up a second caution, however, it was always going to be a tough ask to salvage anything from the contest.

On the penalty incident, Annetts said: “There was a sloppy pass from us in the middle of the park and their guy ran onto the ball.

“He and Luke accidentally clipped heals as they were running together, their player went down, Luke didn’t, and the referee pointed to the spot.”

Commenting on the sending offs, he added: “Sam unfortunately reacted to some provocation in a way he shouldn’t have.

“He didn’t make any contact, but he feigned to put his head towards the head of their player and the referee saw it.

“Five minutes later, Chris made what I thought was a good tackle but the referee said his foot was too high and gave him a second yellow.

“Both players’ feet were at the same height but the referee chose to penalise Chris and not their player which was baffling.

“If both players had been given a yellow card I could have accepted it.”

Annetts continued: “The remaining nine players worked remarkably hard and we defended unbelievably well.

“I was proud of all of them and the effort they put in was exceptional.

“We may have lost but there were a lot of positives we could take, especially the way we played in the first half.”

Bees: Hadley, Stordy, Herbst, Day, King, T Gale, Blair (Fry), Fleet, Neale (Fouracre), Cummings (S Gale), Scovell