BRIDPORT Reserves boss Adam Herring admitted the difficulty of managing the Bees’ second string came as a surprise to him.

Herring was named as successor to Chris Herbst after he took the Bees’ first-team job in October following the departure of previous manager Edgar Marcu.

Herring got the reserves’ job two weeks after Herbst was promoted to the first team.

However, the former Beaminster chief experienced wildly differing fortunes in his first campaign.

READ MORE: Bournemouth Sports 4-6 Bridport Reserves - report

He led the reserves to a 7-0 Senior Trophy win against his former side but would go on to sustain a 6-0 loss at Merley, an 8-0 hiding at Wimborne Reserves and a 7-2 defeat by new champions Holt.

Blandford United and Merley also claimed 6-0 wins at St Mary’s Field.

Bridport did take some impressive victories of their own, beating Bournemouth Sports 6-4 on the final game of their Jewson Dorset Premier League season.

They also thumped Sherborne Reserves 7-1 away and beat Shaftesbury Reserves 4-0 at home.

But Herring candidly told the Bridport News how the scale of the task proved a challenging hurdle to overcome, the Bees eventually finishing 15th of the 17 teams.

“For me, I found it very difficult,” he said. “I never appreciated how difficult it is being a reserve-team manager.

“But if Chris brings in a few players there’s no reason why we can’t go into next season looking a bit more positive.

“Hopefully there will be a few additions in both teams. There are a lot of players asking to come and play for Bridport now.

“They can see there has been a turnaround in the club overall. But, for the first team to improve, the reserve team needs to be stronger.

“Players dropping down don’t want to be playing in a team that’s getting a hiding every week.”

Although Bridport finished 15th, Herring pointed towards a congested mid-table which saw the Bees finish only three points off 12th-placed Poole Borough.

He added: “Like I’ve said in the past, if you look at the table the top six or seven teams are very good.

“Then there’s five or six teams down near the bottom. We only finished three points behind finishing three places higher in the end.

“It’s almost like a table of two halves. I don’t know what’s happening next year with what teams are going down or coming up.

“But, I think it was good to finish on a high and have that as our last (result) of the season to take into next year.”