BRIDPORT face their latest away day in Cornwall with a trip to Saltash United in the Toolstation Western League Premier Division on Saturday (3pm).

Manager Rob Marquis will take his squad to Saltash – known as the ‘gateway to Cornwall’ – to face the league’s eighth-placed side.

The Bees have lost 18 of 19 league games this season and are currently rooted to the bottom of the table, having collected one win – a 2-1 success over Ashton & Backwell United.

Speaking to the Bridport News before the game, Marquis highlighted ball retention and defensive engagement when referring to Bridport’s form.

He said: “It’s going to be tough, it’s the same old story. If we can’t resolve our ball retention up front we’re going to be in trouble.

“Somebody was talking statistically (on Tuesday) and the amount of plays that our defence has the amount of goals we concede, actually we’ve got quite a good defence.

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“It just shows how much the ball’s coming back. There are some teams that would engage defensively 20 times and concede three. Our defence is getting engaged considerably more than that.

“We could do with an out-and-out centre-forward. A couple of names have been put my way but the Toolstation is quite a fair standard, it’s not easy.

“We’re coming up against Southern League players most weeks.”

Left-back Malakai Stanners returns from international duty with the British Virgin Islands, while returning joint top-scorer Mike Hill is in contention for a starting spot.

New signing Devin Fry could feature but Liam O’Shaughnessy will not feature for either the Bees or Dorchester Sports after underdoing hand surgery.