BRIDPORT 1

TORRIDGESIDE 0

BRIDPORT emerged victorious in their first game for 32 days, defeating Torridgeside 1-0 at St Mary’s Field in the South West Peninsula League Premier East.

Now on a run of four games unbeaten, Bridport have climbed into 16th and possess several games in hand on teams above them.

This triumph is arguably one of Bridport’s finest this season, considering the gap between fixtures caused by four consecutive postponements amid poor weather.

Understandably rusty to start, Bridport were given an early let-off when Jack Magarotto spooned a big chance over.

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Sol Ayunga and Will Gape then fired wide at the other end with two openings in the space of 60 seconds.

However, the momentum was with the Bees and Tom Richardson promptly bagged his fourth goal in four games in the 29th minute.

He beat advancing keeper Elijah Clarke to a long ball and stroked home an unmissable opportunity into the empty net for 1-0.

Torridgeside built heavy pressure up to half-time but the Bridport defence withstood the barrage.

Torridgeside’s Nathan Walter shot wide early in the second half before Bridport’s Sol Ayunga grazed the top of the bar following a fluent move.

Bridport were given a further boost in the 63rd minute when Jack Gilbert was shown a second yellow card for tripping Riley Weedon as he sped through on goal.

Having an extra man did not prove as advantageous as expected, with Torridgeside drumming up a spirited riposte.

Bridport keeper Jordon Scadding kept them at bay with vital stops and in the 89th minute the Bees were rewarded with a penalty.

Richardson stepped up from the spot but Clarke gave his team a lifeline with an important stop.

It made for a tense finale but Bridport remained composed to see out the win, booking a clean sheet and three points in the process.

Speaking post-match, Bridport boss Chris Herbst said: “You could tell we haven’t played in a while but the times we actually got the ball we played some really good stuff.

“There were times when we struggled a bit but I was happy, 1-0 and a clean sheet it’s happy days. You can’t argue with that.

“I’m always overcritical but looking back at it now the game’s finished I’m really happy.

“If we played three or four games in a row I feel like we’d win three or four-nil. It was that match sharpness we lacked.”

Bees: Jo Scadding, Stanners (Parsons 46), Childs (Cox 71), Wright, King, Gall, Weedon (Baker 84), Gape (Jones 84), Ayunga (Howe 71), Richardson, Daniels.