PORTLAND UNITED 3 BOURNEMOUTH POPPIES 4

CHARLIE May bagged a brace for Portland United but it wasn’t enough as the Blues went down to a 4-3 pre-season defeat against Bournemouth Poppies.

Ross Doidge was the other scorer for Gary Bailey’s men, who gave the Wessex Premier outfit a good test throughout at Grove Corner.

Bailey told Echosport: “It was an open game with defensive mistakes from both teams really.

“We looked good going forward, which was pleasing after such a rearguard action against Weymouth, but on the other hand we got a bit carried away and left ourselves a bit open.

“Other than their goal in the second half we were fairly comfortable and we probably had enough chances to win the game. It was still very encouraging from our point of view going forward.”

Commenting on new recruit May, the Blues’ boss added: “Charlie has had a very good pre-season, I challenged him to make the step up from the Senior League in the summer.

“It will be good to get him on board to freshen things up and give us a different dynamic up front.”

Blues: Boyt, Bessant (Heal), Austin, Carmichael, Holland (Perkins), McKechnie, Smith, R Doidge (Mutch), Halloran (Price), Clarke (Linaker), May (Hansford)