BRIDPORT 2

TORRINGTON 1

BRIDPORT were provided the perfect tonic with a 2-1 victory over Torrington at St Mary’s Field on Easter Monday.

Chris Herbst’s troops had six days to recover from playing 65 minutes with 10 men in their agonising 3-2 Walter C Parson Cup semi-final loss to Okehampton last Tuesday.

The three points also handed Bridport’s loyal team of volunteers a rich reward after their pre-match efforts to make the pitch playable.

When play began, Bridport’s cup hangover was illustrated in a slow first half-hour, Sol Ayunga coming closest to scoring when he drilled wide inside the box.

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The action did pick up towards half-time as Ollie Stevens forced Bees’ keeper Jordon Scadding into a save with his legs in the 31st minute.

In the second half, Bridport were unlucky not to score in a goalmouth scramble as Torrington’s defence somehow kept the Bees at bay, blocking a succession of shots.

Herbst handed Beaminster forward Noah House a debut on 66 minutes and he was part of the attacking improvement that yielded two goals for the Bees.

First, Riley Weedon continued his remarkable goalscoring form this season with a free-kick goal in the 75th minute, stroking the ball home from the left.

Ayunga needed only two further minutes to double the lead, House’s lofted through ball playing the striker in before nutmegging keeper Jake Greening.

Bridport had 13 minutes to close out the win and clean sheet but the latter eluded them as skipper Luke King was penalised for a foul in the box, allowing Brad Williams to beat Scadding from the spot.

Williams’ goal gave the Super Greens late hope but Bridport held on to strengthen their second position in the table.

Speaking post-match, Herbst said: “It wasn’t a great performance but looking back on it, it was three points.

“There are not many positives. It was attitude and approaching the game. The way we approach the bottom-half teams, we need to look at ourselves.

“No disrespect to Torrington, we should’ve been beating them comfortably. We’re not hanging on but it doesn’t look like the victory it should’ve been.

“We need to seriously improve our attitude. I wasn’t happy afterwards.”

Bridport next go into their rearranged clash with Honiton tomorrow (7.45pm), having been forced to abandon the game when 4-1 up due to a floodlight failure.

Herbst added: “At their place we struggled to play and their style we struggled against. We have to improve from that.

“They’ll be up for it but we’ve got to be targeting three points.”

Isaac House could make his debut but Will Gape and James Cox are out.

Bees: Jo Scadding, G Calverley, King, Gall, A Diaz (N House 65), Daniels, Owen (Baggs 64), Weedon, Cox (T Diaz 65), Brook (Parsons 46), Ayunga.

Attendance: 188.