9:20am Wednesday 21st March 2012
By Ky Capel
Bridport 1 MERTHYR TOWN 2
BRIDPORT pushed an impressive Merthyr Town side all the way at St Mary’s Field last night.
The game looked over at half-time with the visitors 2-0 up but the Bees came out in the second half and put up a great fight which saw them almost snatch a point.
Matt Condliffe grabbed one back on 55 minutes before Shane Evans and Joe Charles both went close to grabbing an equaliser.
Bridport boss Trevor Senior said: “Merthyr dominated the first half and enjoyed a lot of possession.
“They grabbed their second just before half-time with a shot that swerved all over the place and caught out Sam Filkins while their first looked a bit offside with one of their lads getting on the end of a cross at the far post.
“Having said that they had three other attempts that all went past the right-hand post and another great strike on the half-volley, which Sam just managed to keep out, so 2-0 at half-time was probably a fair reflection.
“We had not created much but in the second half we came out and got back in it with an early goal.
“Dan Wise found Tom Richardson down the right channel and when he outpaced a defender and pulled the ball across there was Matt to finish it off.
“That goal really put Merthyr out of their stride for a bit with Dan putting over another great ball, this time on the diagonal, to Shane Evans, whose first touch was good but their keeper did just enough to stop him scoring.
“Sam then made some decent saves to keep us in it before Joe got on the end of Dan’s corner with two minutes remaining, only to see his header go inches over the crossbar.
“The fact we could not quite get the equaliser was obviously disappointing but our lads still deserve an awful lot of credit for the way they played, particularly in the second half.
“I have watched Merthyr four times now and their display in the first half was the best I have ever seen from them so to get the response from the players we did in the second half was very pleasing.”
The defeat ends a run of three straight victories for Bridport, who now sit 13th in the Toolstation Western Premier Division, 11 points above the drop-zone.
The Bees’ next assignment sees them host Larkhall Athletic this coming Saturday (3pm).
Darren Lock and Roger Cummings are both unavailable for the clash but Chris Clarke should return after missing yesterday’s encounter due to work commitments.
Bees: Filkins, Condliffe, Evans (Morgan 75), J Charles, Hill, Hayter, Luke, Wise, Richardson, Watts (Senior 75), Legg (Hailu 83). Subs not used: Cummings, Lock.
Bees’ Man of the Match: Alan Hill
Attendance: 137
*Dan Wise scored from the spot on Saturday to earn the Bees a 1-0 victory at Odd Down
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