UPWEY & BROADWEY 3 PIDDLETRENTHIDE UNITED 4

MANAGER Steve Reynolds urged his Upwey and Broadwey troops to dig in and show more fight after they were edged out in a topsy-turvy encounter at Redlands.

The home side possessed a one-goal advantage going into the latter stages thanks to goals from Charlie May, Pete Bochonko and Charlie Kend-erdine, but couldn’t do enough to hang on in tough conditions.

“To be honest, they had more fight than we did and they had the bottle to go on and win it, so fair play to them.” Reynolds told Echosport.

“It’s the first time they have beaten us and when we played them before this year they deserved a draw, I would have said we deserved a draw this time.

“At the end, the pitch was nearly completely flooded and the ball kept stopping in the wet, there was no use in us trying to beat men with step-overs, you just have to battle.

“If we played on 3G pitches every week, I fully believe nobody in the league would touch us but we need to get some physicality and throw in some strong challenges.

“They know full well they need to up their game and get more physical.”

Reynolds now believes the title race is over in the Dorset Senior League and that leaders Westland Sports will cruise home in the run in to claim the crown.

He added: “Everyone is handing the league to Westlands but I still think we can get into the top three if we knuckle down.”

Upwey & Broadwey: Tewksbury, Aston, Frost (Jarvis 60), Dixon, Pearce, Lane, Devaney (R Zima 70), Kenderdine, May, Rolls, Bochonko. Sub not used: Purnell