BRIDPORT RES 0

MERLEY COBHAM SPORTS 4

BRIDPORT Reserves went down 4-0 as high-flying Merley Cobham Sports romped to a 4-0 Dorset Premier League victory at St Mary’s Field.

Merley created the first chance after 10 minutes when keeper Jordon Scadding had to be quick off his line to deny star striker Nathan Saxby.

Bridport’s Riley Weedon, boosted by his hat-trick last week against Corfe, had the first chance for Bridport but his shot from 25 yards did not end up troubling Merley’s keeper.

Bridport tried to match their opponents in the early stages but it was Merley who opened the scoring after 17 minutes.

The Bees’ defenders seemed to have the opportunity to clear the danger more than once but the ball fell kindly to the striker who gave Scadding no chance from 10 yards with a fierce right foot finish .

For the next 25 minutes it was all Merley, who were ruthless in winning the ball back.

Only a combination of good defending, outstanding goalkeeping from Scadding and unusually poor finishing from one of the league’s free-scoring teams resulted in the score remaining at 1-0.

But Merley doubled their score after 43 minutes, another clinical finish giving Scadding no chance.

Bridport started the second half well and managed to cause the visitors a few problems.

Striker Antony Carlile was played in behind the Merley defence by captain Brandon Scadding on two occasions but he was not able to test the keeper.

After 66 minutes a cross from Ryan Leader was met perfectly by Brandon Scadding’s head and it seemed destined to find the bottom corner of the net but somehow the visiting keeper got down to his right to turn it around the post.

From the resulting corner, Dean Hyett got his head to the ball and sent it goal bound, it was cleared off the line but the ball fell to Carlile who somehow failed to get anything on the ball from just a yard out and with an open goal.

This golden opportunity to reduce the arrears seemed to deflate the home team and within 30 seconds they found themselves 3-0 down when they were severely punished on the counter-attack, failing to clear the ball in their 18-yard box and allowing Matt Groves to score.

Visibly, the home team were effected by the previous five minutes and were all over the place allowing Merley to score a fourth on 69 minutes.

Not wanting to be humiliated, Bridport brought on three substitutes to offer some fresh legs on a really heavy pitch.

Substitute Josh Hull had a chance late on to get a consolation but Merley’s determination to keep a clean sheet was clear to see.

Home boss Shaun Annetts said: “They’re a very good side. They’ve got a lot of strength up front and carry a real threat.

“We rode our luck first half, no doubt. But we defended quite well and Jordon was outstanding.

“The second goal took a little bit of wind out of our sails but as the second half started we had a 20-minute spell where we could easily have got back on level terms.

“Fair to Merley, I’ve no complaints, they were far superior to us.

“They will go on to finish in the top three. Whether they’re quite good enough to catch Hamworthy remains to be seen.”

Bees: Jo Scadding, Ja Scadding (M Hill 75), Hyett, Wyrill, Strelley, Leader, B Scadding, Middleton (Co Lowden 75), Weedon, Jones (Hull 75), Carlile. Subs not used: Mamanta, Harvey.