DUMBFOUNDED Balti Sports’ manager Marco Nott was candid in his assessment of his side’s 5-4 loss at Mere Town, with Balti having squandered a 4-0 lead in their Dorset Premier League encounter.

The result means Nott’s team continue to chase a first league victory since late September.

Sammy Nichols, Scott Walker, Shane Lock and Danny Andrews all scored for the visitors in a dream start, but Mere responded powerfully as Joe Patterson scored four times, twice either side of a Jamie Samways strike.

Speaking to Echosport, Nott felt Balti have slipped into a “freefall” on occasions this season after conceding when holding a lead.

He said: “To see the confidence sap from the team you could see it happening from 4-2. You could just see that we weren’t going to win the game. There seems to be a freefall once one goes in. We just couldn’t get the job done, which is unbelievably disappointing.”

And Nott was at a loss to explain the repetitive nature of his side’s defensive troubles.

“Unfortunately we made the same mistakes. We’re conceding in clusters. First half we never looked in danger of even conceding a goal. We seem to have a real issue of once a goal goes in we shut up shop and try to defend for our lives. It keeps happening.

“We shouldn’t be going away from Mere Town with four goals and not bringing anything home.”