BRIDPORT boss Adam Fricker is aiming for a repeat of the performance shown against Bitton when the Bees take on Buckland Athletic in Toolstation Western League Premier Division action tomorrow (7.45pm).

Despite losing 4-2 to the Ton, Bridport’s display merited at least a point as the Bees created the vast majority of chances, notably Mark Salter missing a fifth straight penalty.

Defeat signalled Bridport’s fourth in a row during a testing festive run of fixtures that handed them games against three of the top four.

And Adam Fricker’s men have another challenging prospect lying in wait with last season’s fifth-best side Buckland, although Athletic currently sit directly above Bridport in 10th.

Fricker told Echosport: “It’s another tough one, we tend to raise our game when we’re playing against the top sides.

“I said to the lads ‘it shouldn’t be that way, it should be like that week in, week out no matter who we’re playing. That’s the challenge I’ve set them.

“We need to go out and do exactly what we did (on Saturday) and hopefully we’ll get a bit of luck and we’ll get ourselves on track a little bit.”

Earlier this season, Bridport lost 2-1 at the Bucks and Fricker foresees a similarly tight clash in the return game.

He said: “That always seems to be the way when we’re playing the top teams, we just lose out narrowly, but confidence is good.

“The fans that were at the (Bitton) game certainly wouldn’t be looking at us as a team that’s lost four on the spin. We really did play some great stuff but we need to do that on a consistent level.

“If we do that then no doubt, the results will pick up and we’ll start moving up the table again.”

Leighton Thomas (hamstring) plus Richard Hebditch and Louis Rutter (both knee) miss out.