ASHTON & BACKWELL UNITED 4

BRIDPORT 0

BRIDPORT lost 4-0 at Ashton & Backwell as clear daylight opened between themselves and the teams above in the Toolstation Western League Premier Division.

The Bees, who remain bottom, beat Ashton & Backwell 2-1 earlier this season for their sole win of the campaign to date.

But the Stags were much improved this time around and took the lead inside the first five minutes through Jonathan Invernizzi.

Bridport gained a foothold in the game towards half-time and were well in the game until midway through the second period.

Alfie Cummings proved to be the man who knocked the stuffing out of Bridport, before Brad Skidmore added a third.

Bridport were awarded a penalty at 3-0 down but Dan Baggs, who scored a winning spot-kick in the reverse fixture, shanked his effort.

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Mason Hardidge then made it four to inflict another heavy loss on the Bees, for whom Tyler Forbes had two disallowed goals.

One of the goals was chalked off when Kris Hastings needlessly touched Forbes’ shot from an offside position to compound the Bees’ afternoon.

Speaking post-match, Bees’ boss Rob Marquis felt the hosts were deserved winners.

He said: “We missed a penalty and Tyler should’ve scored, so we perhaps should’ve got a couple.

“They were definitely stronger from the last time we played them. Did we deserve anything out of it? Probably not.

“We struggled a bit but you have to take your medicine, I suppose.

“We were probably a bit slow coming out of the blocks and got caught out so we were 1-0 down.

“We slowly got into the game and going into half-time I thought we were improving, we were doing quite well.

“But we had the old 2-0 sucker punch midway through the half. It was a reasonable amount of time (remaining) when they got the second.

“It knocked the stuffing out of us a bit and some players didn’t have their best games as well.

“It’s just a lack of confidence, sometimes we could have more belief in our ability. But it’s understandable, with the position we’re in.

“They wanted to win at all costs, without a shadow. They’ve had a change in personnel since we played them last and I think they’ll be out of trouble.

“They certainly weren’t a bad side. A couple of their players were pretty good, they just had more cutting edge than when we played them.”

Bees: Taylor, Jarvis, A Steele, Ward, Baggs, Owen (Boulton 67), Brook (Ja Scadding 75), Osei-Kumi, Hastings, Forbes, Greenwood-Neate.

Attendance: 88