BRIDPORT RES 0

MERLEY 2

AFTER a nightmare first 10 minutes, Bridport Reserves succumbed 2-0 to Merley in their Dorset Premier League meeting at St Mary’s Field.

Two early goals sealed the deal for Cobham with Charlie Shears scoring with just five minutes on the clock after Dan Brown put him in down the left flank.

Shears cut in, beat his man and rifled a shot into the net.

Shears was in the action again in the 10th minute, pressing the Bridport backline into errors and when he intercepted a short back pass meant for stand-in Bridport keeper, Sam Day, Shears pushed the ball past the keeper and Day brought him down in the box, earning himself a red card.

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Up stepped Scott Walters to send replacement keeper Josh Baker the wrong way and put Cobham 2-0 up.

Cobham remained on top for the duration of the half but credit went to the 10 men of Bridport with a lot of resilience and a press in midfield that disrupted a lot of Merley’s play.

That said, away keeper Joe Coombes had little to deal with and there was no further score before half-time.

Merley came out of the blocks quickly in the second half finding lots of room down both flanks which Amechi Eze-Sunday and Toby Ord were beginning to exploit but on too many occasions the final pass was letting them down.

Joss Holford was unlucky to see his goalbound effort in the 51st minute deflected past the far post for a corner and Adam Hall had a wonderful effort rebound to safety off the far post in the 60th minute.

But for all their efforts, Merley just could not add to their tally although they were deserved winners in the end.

Bridport fought well in the game but, understandably, did not seriously test Coombes in the Merley goal.

The result leaves Adam Herring’s Bees, who lost several key players to the first team, in 14th place with seven points breathing space to the bottom two.

Bridport Reserves host Dorchester Sports on Saturday (2pm).

Bees: Day, Elliott, Baggs, Mansley, Leader, Baker, Morgan, Steele, Taylor, Richardson, Kamara. Subs used: Burwood, Loader-Mouland, M Calverley, Ricardo, Woodhouse.