HONITON TOWN 1

BRIDPORT 1

BRIDPORT pulled a 1-1 draw out of the fire with a 96th-minute equaliser to deny Honiton Town all three points in the South West Peninsula League Premier East.

Bridport’s previous match with the Hippos was abandoned with the Bees leading 4-1 before a floodlight failure at St Mary’s Field.

However, this was a far greater test for the Bees, who struggled to deal with Honiton’s masterplan of direct play.

At almost every opportunity the Hippos bombarded the Bees’ box with long balls, looking for their target men, and Bridport were unable to come up with a solution.

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They needed Jordon Scadding to make a superb one-on-one save to keep the scores level at half-time, having created little other than a blocked Jake Owen shot from Riley Weedon’s corner.

Bridport tried to impose their possession-based game upon Honiton with little success in the second half and duly went behind when Jordan Harris leathered a finish beyond Scadding on 64 minutes.

In reply, George Calverley was active on the Bridport left as the Bees began to find joy on the wing.

However, their progress was hindered by sin-bins for Owen and Kieren Daniels as Bridport’s game management was found wanting.

With the clock running into a sixth added minute, Bridport looked on course for defeat until Calverley whipped in a dangerous delivery and Fred Parsons poked past Hippos’ keeper Leon Woodhead to spark jubilant scenes on the Bees’ bench.

Speaking post-match, Bridport boss Chris Herbst said: “It’s frustrating. We couldn’t deal with how they played, they were route-one and putting us under pressure.

“We didn’t deal with it well, so when you find a way of hurting teams you carry that on. That’s what they were doing and we couldn’t work it out.

“Really, we should’ve gone in 1-0 down but Jordon made an unbelievable save. It sounds weird but I wanted us to go in 1-0 down to wake us up because we were shocking.

“We really did get out of jail. It wasn’t through the lack of trying but it was our decision-making and the game management.

“When we’re trying to chase a game, too many people forget their positions. That’s what we need to work on. It’s frustrating because we don’t set them up like that.”

Bridport have no game this weekend after Torridgeside forfeited their Walter C Parson Cup tie.

Herbst’s men are next in action on Saturday, October 28 at home to Sidmouth Town.

Bees: Jo Scadding, Childs (Diaz 65), D Lock, Owen, Leader, Parsons, Daniels (Coombs 85), Weedon (Gape 55), Calverley, Rowe (Jones 65), Richardson (Ayunga 55).

Attendance: 211.