ROMSEY TOWN 2 PORTLAND UNITED 1

PORTLAND United manager Gary Bailey admitted he felt hard done by as his side suffered their first loss back in the Sydenhams Wessex League against Romsey Town.

An Alex Godfrey strike just short of the hour mark was not enough to earn the Blues anything from the encounter, while winger Ed Bastick was also sent off for the island club after picking up a second booking late on.

“I am not too downbeat at all because there were lots of positives to come out of it and we will learn from it,” said Bailey when giving his assessment.

“We certainly deserved at least a point out of it for our dominance during the game.”

After a relatively sluggish start from both sides, Portland fell behind when they failed to defend a corner which was delivered to the back post, leaving Romsey’s Matthew Page to put the ball home and draw first blood.

The Blues then found their feet and started to create chances, however, five minutes before the break Portland, according to Bailey, “shot themselves in the foot”.

They needlessly gave the ball away in a dangerous area and up popped Page once again to double his tally with a blistering effort that proved to be the winner.

After a dominant spell following the break it was Godfrey who put the contest back in the balance when he found the net on 57 minutes.

He latched on to a shot which had rebounded, saw the Romsey keeper off his line, and then applied a well-executed lofted finish.

But although Portland threw the kitchen sink at the home side late on, they couldn’t find that second strike, despite Bastick being involved in a moment of controversy.

“Ed was clean through one-on-one and their centre-half blatantly pulled him back, but the referee gave nothing,” Bailey said.

That wasn’t the end of the controversy for Bastick as he was then dismissed 10 minutes from time after a seemingly innocuous incident.

The Portland chief added: “Their keeper has gone to clear a ball which is chest high and Ed went in as well. They ran into each other and Ed’s picked up a second yellow.”

Blues: Lillington, Smith, Whyton, Peck, Bessant (Morris), G Will (McClements), Doidge, Halloran, McKechnie (Linaker), Godfrey, Bastick. Sub not used: Mutch.