Bridport Sport

Bees caught cold by Cunningham

By Rob Meech

9:53am Wednesday 1st September 2010

SHERBORNE RESERVES 1 Bridport RESERVES 0 DEFLATED Steve Crabb blamed Bridport Reserves’ 1-0 defeat by table-topping Sherborne Town Reserves on “10 seconds of madness”.

Crabb’s charges were untroubled for large periods at Raleigh Grove but returned home empty-handed thanks to a second-half strike from ex-Bee Tony Cunningham.

Cunningham collected the ball on the halfway line and marched unchallenged through the defence to score the only goal of the game.

Joint-boss Crabb, who shares the reins with Mark Lock, said: “This is the most disappointed I’ve felt all season because we deserved something from the game.

“We had the better chances and never looked in any danger, apart from 10 seconds of madness when we didn’t defend.

“The least we were going to get was a draw but instead we have come away with nothing. I can’t fault the effort the lads put in but it is another defeat to our name.

“We pushed Portland United and Weymouth all the way but the results in those games were fair. We didn’t deserve to lose to Sherborne.

“They are definitely stronger this season than they were but they created very little. The game had 0-0 written all over it before they scored out of nowhere.”

Crabb added: “As long as we keep performing as we have been, the results will come. We’ve had a really tough start and it doesn’t get any easier with Wincanton Town up next.”

After a fairly uneventful first 45 minutes, Bridport squandered two golden opportunities to draw first blood.

Neither Ashley Clarke nor Tristan Gale could find the net from their respective headers and although the latter did bundle the ball over the line, he was ajudged to have used his arm.

Those aberrations came back to haunt the Bees as Cunningham strolled through a static back-line before rounding Lee Cleal and tapping into an unguarded net.

Bridport tried to galvanise themselves but a leveller was not forthcoming as they slipped to a third straight Magna Dorset Premier League reversal.

Following a promising start, their downturn in fortune has left them in 10th spot, sandwiched between Parley Sports and last season’s runners-up, Chickerell United.

Bees Reserves: Cleal, Stordy, Day, A Clarke, C Bulman, Fleet (Moss 70), Jones, Cummings, A Boyer (C Symes 65), B Clarke, Gale (Peart 70).

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