Bridport beat Badshot Lea 3-1 in FA Vase qualifying round

Bridport players and coaches celebrate after beating Badshot Lea 3-1 in the FA Vase on Saturday, September 12 <i>(Image: Stephen Barrett)</i>
Bridport players and coaches celebrate after beating Badshot Lea 3-1 in the FA Vase on Saturday, September 12 (Image: Stephen Barrett)
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Bridport progressed into the First Round of the FA Vase with a thrilling 3-1 win against Badshot Lea who play in the Combined Counties League, one level above the Bees.

The home fans' nerves were jangling as early as the third minute when the Baggies Kye Hobbs raced through the home defence only to find 'keeper Josh Attwood clearing the ball before he could shoot.

Team-mate Zac Horkan shot over from the edge of the box two minutes later, only for Attwood to have the hosts' first shot on goal when his clearance from the box flew the length of the pitch where his bemused counterpart Rileigh Hebditch collected the ball!

Badshot continued the attacking theme with first Stan Jones and then Archie Mills failing to convert good chances.

In reply, Callum Arnold and Josh Camp threatened the visitors' goal while Horkan sent an effort over the hosts' Beehive club house in the 20th minute.

Six minutes later The Bees answered the visitors' efforts when a long ball found the hapless Hebditch out of position, allowing Kieron Daniels to open the scoring.

With half-time approaching, a harsh free-kick decision against Bridport resulted in Arnold being booked while Matt Brown was sin-binned for dissent.

Badshot quickly took advantage of the numerical superiority which led to Horkan converting a cut-back from Hobbs to make it 1-1.

Bridport started the second half with real conviction as Seb Woods fired over from range before Arnold finished a flowing move in the 47th minute to edge The Bees ahead by 2-1.

The visitors were far from out of it though, as Hobbs forced Attwood to claw a cross out from under his crossbar followed in the 57th minute by an acrobatic volley by Louis Pask which went ten feet over the woodwork!

There was controversy in the 69th minute when Bridport's Luke King was shaken up in an accidental collision, which referee Amith Gunarathna Maha Vidanage ruled should result in an uncontested drop ball, a decision which enraged the away bench and a vociferous section of their travelling support.

As the game reached its final 15 minutes, Callum Arnold forced a full-length save from Baggies' Hebditch, quickly followed by a disallowed Bridport goal for a foul on the goalie.

In a frantic finish, Milo Derham sent both a free-kick and a shot on goal wide for Badshot, while as the game rushed into injury time, their goalie was pushed into attack to contest two corners with the second unsuccessfully resulting in a handball shout in the Bees box.

Having weathered the mass attacks, The Bees sewed up the contest in the 94th minute when Arnold and Woods raced upfield with just the keeper to beat which the former did when fed by the latter.

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