BRIDPORT 3

Thomas 38, 60, 78

HENGROVE ATHLETIC 1

Trowbridge 17

LEIGHTON Thomas hit a hat-trick as Bridport recorded their first home win in the league this season against Hengrove Athletic in the Toolstation Western Premier Division.

The victory is much needed for a Bridport side currently languishing at 18th in the table.

Bridport were hampered in their preparation with Oscar Latas leaving to join Street on Friday night.

The Bees started slowly and looked nervous before the visitors scored after 17 minutes, with a great cross finding Luke Trowbridge to head in past Jason Hutchings in the Bridport goal.

The home side tried to respond as Sam Clark broke forward and got through one-on-one but shot wide of the post.

There were a couple of further half chances for the home side but they could not capitalise.

However, Thomas grabbed his first and the equaliser when he broke through and chipped the ball over the Hengrove goalkeeper in the 38th minute.

The first half ended with the two teams deadlocked but the second was dominant from Bridport.

Early on Thomas missed a one-on-one, but made amends when he fired Bridport into the lead after pouncing upon a defensive mistake.

Mark Salter then missed a penalty, which was earned after a defender clattered into Clark inside the box.

However, Thomas cemented his hat-trick three minutes later, as he broke through the defence and fired into the net to put daylight between the two sides.

From here Bridport then saw the game out effectively to claim a big three points.

Bridport boss Adam Fricker, when asked if he was relieved with the win, said: “Yeah, we needed it to be fair. Definitely. Hopefully it will kick start (us) and give the lads a big boost from here.”

Discussing Thomas’ performance, Fricker said: “The only frustrating thing is that Leighton is going to be away for the next three weeks now. He is playing for the Cayman Islands under-23s in America, so a good way to sign off from his perspective.”

Fricker added: “In the second half we played a bit more on the front foot and we looked a bit more back to ourselves to be honest.

“It was a good result for us, we had a lot of players missing as well.”

Bridport are next in action when they host Roman Glass St George on Saturday (3pm).

Bridport: Hutchings, Regan, Sweet, Symes, Rutter, Irish, Thomas (Cox 79), Peach, Salter, Clark, Morris (Condliffe 73).

Subs not used: Richardson, Fricker

Attendance: 100

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