BALTI SPORTS 3

SHAFTESBURY TOWN RES 2

UNBEATEN Balti Sports took their fifth victory of the Dorset Premier League season with a battling 3-2 triumph over Shaftesbury Town Reserves at Weymouth College.

Balti, who have also taken three draws in eight games, moved into third above Merley Cobham Sports after seeing off a spirited Rockies side that started the better of the teams.

Shaftesbury made good on their early promise by capitalising on a mix-up in the Balti defence, the outstanding Aaron Lane-Leney nipping in to dink the ball over goalkeeper Andy Nott.

Balti responded as Danny Andrews and Sammy Nichols both squandered chances, the latter with a header.

Nichols would atone for his miss shortly afterwards, latching on to Ethan Devaney’s ball and going through one-on-one, finishing off the rebound after his initial shot was saved.

Nichols was central to Balti’s second goal, the midfielder drawing a foul in the box with Andrews stepping up to fire low into the bottom-left corner five minutes before half-time.

After the resumption, both teams maintained their high standard of play with some attractive football on show.

However, the rapid Lane-Leney then earned a sin-bin which allowed Balti to assume control, leading to their third goal.

Left-back Liam O’Shaughnessy showed composure to square for Nichols in an advanced position, the midfielder making no mistake for his fifth goal of the season.

Sub Ricky Lane and Andrews both missed chances for 4-1 and Town set up a grandstand finale with a direct free-kick from substitute Bailey Hodge, who bent his effort around the Balti wall and into the bottom corner.

Shaftesbury mounted late pressure on the Balti goal, sending numerous deliveries into the box, but Balti held firm for a brilliant win.

Speaking to Echosport, boss Marco Nott said: “It was an outstanding win, quite a big thing.

“We’ve won five and drawn three now. It’s a fantastic start to the season and hopefully we can crack on.”

He added: “They got that goal back at 3-2 and we lost our composure a little bit, it was a little bit backs to the wall at the end.

“To be fair to us, we defended really well. We had a lot of free-kicks we had to deal with. Andy and the back four were brilliant.

“Maybe last year we’d have drawn that match and folded at the end but we stuck at it.

“We feel pretty sound defensively at the moment and we’ve always got goals in our team.”

Balti have a bye weekend and next visit Merley Cobham Sports on Saturday, September 28.

Balti: A Nott, Curran, S Walker, Anderson, O’Shaughnessy, Nichols (Stavrianos 60), Kenderdine, McClements, Devaney, Zima (Lane 70), Andrews (Moore 80). Subs not used: Burton, Drummond.

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