MERLEY COBHAM SPORTS 3

BRIDPORT RES 1

BRIDPORT Reserves were sent to a second consecutive loss as Merley Cobham Sports won their Dorset Premier League encounter 3-1 at Merley Park.

The game started evenly and it was the Bees who struck early when a poor backpass by Ted Bignall was intercepted by Joe Etherington and he rounded keeper Jason Collins to stab the ball home.

It did not take long for Merley to have their first chance of the game, in the fifth minute, Callum Perry played a one-two with Josh Buck, his cross found Daniel Reeks who forced Bridport keeper Mark Cuff into a fine reflex save from six yards.

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It was all Cobham now and in the 13th minute some really smart play down the right flank involving Perry and Luke Stone saw the latter cross for Reeks to fire home from eight yards to tie the game up.

Bridport were breaking up Cobham play quite successfully but they were aided by misplaced passes by the home side at times and some frustration was appearing in the home side’s play.

However, in the 20th minute, another piece of good play by the home side saw Buck cut in from the right, losing his man, and he struck a superb low shot from 20 yards on the angle and beat the visitors’ defence and Cuff to find the net via the far post and give Cobham a deserved 2-1 lead at half time.

Cobham rang the changes early in the second half but again, they were still letting themselves down with, on too many occasions, sloppy play in not finding their man often enough.

It took until the 57th minute for Cobham to add to their tally, this time Buck became provider neatly beating his man on the left flank and crossing for Stone who finished with some aplomb to give the home side a two-goal cushion.

Bridport were relying on the counter-attack for the majority of the second half but struggled to threaten at all as Merley closed out victory with a solid defence.

Bridport Reserves were due to play Dorchester Sports yesterday evening.

Bees: Cuff, Arnold, Baker, Childs, Etherington, Kirkbride, Mann, Mansley, Ja Scadding, Steele, Wyrill.