Bees out to secure top-flight position (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Bees out to secure top-flight position

9:04am Wednesday 4th April 2012 in The Bees By Ky Capel

Bridport will secure another year in Toolstation’s top flight if they complete the double over rivals Sherborne Town.

The Dorset duo clash at Raleigh Grove this Saturday (3pm) in what is a must-win encounter for the relegation-threatened hosts.

The Bees remain 11 points clear of their near neighbours and can seal their Premier Division status for another season with victory at the weekend.

Regardless of the outcome in North Dorset, boss Trevor Senior remains confident his men, who then host Willand Rovers on Mondays (3pm), will survive.

He said: “We have just got to beat Sherborne. If we do that then they can’t catch us.

“I think we will be safe though. Sherborne have got some hard games coming up, so it’s not dependant on one game.

“The four-match unbeaten run we had recently made the difference as we picked up 10 points. If we hadn’t got those points we would be in a much different situation, but we got them and we deserved them.”

Bridport enter the derby on the back of three straight defeats – at the hands of title-chasing trio Merthyr Town, Larkhall Athletic and last Saturday’s opponents Hallen.

The latest loss saw the Bees go down 4-0 at Moorhouse Lane and Senior had no complaints.

He said: “We’ve had three hard games and got nothing from them.

“I felt a bit sorry for Sam Filkins as although we let four goals in he didn’t have a shot to save, which sounds stupid.

“The first two goals were decent strikes. We were actually doing okay but they were making it difficult for us.

“We did have some chances with Chris Senior heading over from a cross and Chris Clarke not quite getting to a chip from Matt Condliffe.

“But the third goal killed us. We kept the ball along the backline but gave away a throw in and it resulted in two of our players going for the ball as they crossed it in, and it fell to one of their players who put the ball into an empty net.

“They then got the fourth with about 10 minutes to go.

“Their guy got the faintest of touches to a cross and it crept inside the far post.

“Four minutes from the end Chris Senior shot just over after a good move involving Mitch Conning and Shane Evans but Hallen were pretty good on the day and I was impressed with how they closed us down.

“They looked stronger as a unit and I can’t complain with the result. The win was right but 4-0 was a bit flattering.

“We have just got to keep learning. The lads worked hard enough, Hallen were just a bit stronger than us and they thoroughly deserved to win.”

Bees: Filkins, Condliffe, C Clarke (Evans 65), J Charles, Hill, Hayter, Luke, Wise, Richardson (A Symes 65), Senior, Lock (Conning 65).