BRIDPORT 2 WELLS CITY 1

MATT Condliffe’s first-half double ensured Bridport’s perfect start in the Toolstation Western Premier Division continued at St Mary’s Field.

The Bees began their campaign with a 2-1 success at Barnstaple Town last Saturday and followed it up last night with another three points by beating Wells City by the same scoreline to move to third in the table.

An own goal and a strike from Dan Wise did the damage at the weekend but Condliffe was the star of the show against City as he netted an eight-minute brace before the visitors pulled one back after the break.

Commenting on his side’s dream opening to the campaign, boss Trevor Senior said: “It’s fantastic particularly after such a disjointed pre-season where we only played four games and suffered a lot of disruptions.

“Mike Savage (assistant-manager) took the team on Saturday and told me afterwards he thought we looked a little short of fitness but last night we looked a lot sharper and we are only going to get stronger now with each and every game.

“It is always important to try and start well but it is a long season.

“Wells were not as strong as they were last year and I think both them and Barnstaple will be in the bottom half this year, so the real test comes in the next three games.

“First we have Buckland Athletic away in the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup on Saturday (3pm) and then tough league games at Bishop Sutton next Tuesday and at home to Bitton the following Saturday.

“All three of those are extremely difficult games so it will be interesting to see how we come through those as we look to build on what has been a really encouraging start.”

Reflecting on last night’s game, Senior added: “Shane Evans was ill so Sam Buckler came in for his first start and Alan Hill went to right back.

“We knocked the ball around well and played at a good tempo before Matt put us in front with a fantastic shot on the turn from the edge of the box that flew into the top corner.

“He then doubled the lead with another effort from just outside the box and at half-time we looked in control with Sam Filkins having had very little to do between the posts.

“However, the ball then fell fortuitously to one of their players early in the second half and he curled home a fine finish to reduce the deficit to just one.

“Buoyed by that, Wells then went on to enjoy quite a bit of possession but we continued to defend well and always looked a threat on the break.

“It was great to get the three points and hopefully we can now build on this as the games continue to come at us thick and fast.”

Bees: S Filkins, Hill, C Clarke, Lock, Buckler, Hayter, Legg, Wise, B Clarke (Senior 85), Condliffe (Gale 80), Peart. Sub not used: J Filkins. Man of the Match: Condliffe. Attendance: 93

* Weymouth beat Chickerell United 4-0 in a behind-closed-doors friendly last night at the Bob Lucas Stadium to stretch their unbeaten pre-season run to six games. Dan Smith celebrated putting pen to paper on non-contract terms by grabbing a brace while the other goals came from Matt Groves and Mark Ford.

* Dorchester Town Reserves take on their Portland counterparts in a friendly at Grove Corner this evening (6.30pm).