BRIDPORT’S midfield maestro Chris Luke is set to make his first appearance on home soil this season when the Bees face Longwell Green Sports at St Mary’s Field on Saturday (3pm).

The other good news for fans of the West Dorset club is that Matt Condliffe and Alan Hill are also on course to be involved while Steve Smith may feature.

However, the Toolstation League Premier Division clash looks as though it could come too soon for striker Ryan Dovell, who is trying to shake off ankle and groin problems.

The Bees are missing Dovell’s potency in front of goal at the moment, although they did find the net twice in last Saturday’s FA Vase defeat to Plymouth Parkway courtesy of Dan Wise and Matt Morley.

That 4-2 reverse means Brid-port’s interest in both the FA Cup and Vase is over for another season, leaving them to concentrate on the league.

“It was a disappointing result in Plymouth because we did play a bit better than we have done in the last couple of games,” said Bees’ assistant manager Kev Leigh.

“I don’t know too much about Longwell Green but given the results of games recently, you can see that anyone in this league can beat anyone else.

“We’ll see how Ryan Dovell is in training this week and he could be ready for next Tuesday (away to Brislington). He is very important to us and was our top goalscorer last season.

“Matt Condliffe should be back and Alan Hill will probably be available for selection this week.”

Bridport’s run in the Vase failed to get going at Bolitho Park in Devon.

Disaster struck for the Bees on the half hour when a throw went straight to a Parkway player and keeper Sam Filkins was given no chance.

Five minutes later the lead was doubled but the visitors halved the deficit on 42 minutes through a Wise penalty.

The hosts, who play in the South West Peninsula League, grabbed a third after the break only for substitute Morley to make it 3-2 with 10 minutes to go.

Soon after, Ashley Staines had a goal-bound effort that the Bees were convinced had been handled on the line, but after the referee waved play on Parkway were gifted a fourth to seal it.

“Our defence has been playing well in the last few weeks but on Saturday we suffered some lapses that gave them four goals,” added Leigh.

“Chris Luke came in after coming back from travelling and was superb, it didn’t look like he’d been away.”

Bees: S Filkins, J Filkins (Gale 75), Clarke, Buckler (Staines 67), Hayter, Evans, Wise, Watts, Richardson, Legg (Morley 67), Luke