BALTI SPORTS 5

BRIDPORT RESERVES 0

BALTI Sports kept up their quest to land the Dorset Premier League title on Saturday, with a convincing 5-0 home victory over Bridport Reserves.

The win kept Marco Nott’s men clear by six points at the summit, ahead of second-placed Holt United, who still have three games in hand on the league leaders.

Nott admitted his side started slowly against the Bees at Weymouth College against a young Bridport team then caused them a few problems in the early exchanges.

But it was Balti who took the lead and set the ball rolling, as they recorded their 16th win in 20 league games this season.

A corner found the head of Josh Houghton, who made no mistake in nodding home after 35 minutes.

A slick team move then gave the hosts a second five minutes later, Ricky Lane back-heeled into the path of Ethan Devaney to strike into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

It was then 3-0 before the interval as Sean Zima played in Lane to round the keeper and convert from a tight angle.

Danny Andrews then came off the bench in the second half to add a fourth and increase his league tally. He headed in a cross from Houghton.

Zima then rounded off the scoring, firing home after Jason Pearce’s effort was blocked by the Bees.

Giving his reaction, Nott told Echosport: “The most pleasing thing about the performance was the clean sheet.

“Our defence don’t get much credit because we normally concede one or two goals, but we kept them at bay.”

He added: “The man of the match for me was Josh Houghton. He was outstanding up front.

“He came back in a couple of months ago, having been at Balti here and there for a long time. He knows he is fighting for his place up front and has given us a different dimension.

Bees’ chief Shaun Annetts added: “At 30 minutes, if a neutral had come along to watch the game they would have probably been unsure who was top and who was in mid-table.

“After that it was clear who was the more superior side and that was that. Balti have some top players and will be up there at the end of the season.

“It will be a good team that pips them to the title if they play like that every week.”

Balti: A Nott, Lock, Anderson, Proffitt, Pearce, Devaney (Taylor), Kenderdine, McClements (Roberts), Zima, Lane (Andrews), Houghton. Sub not used: M Nott

Bees: Park, Evans, Storey, Mansley, Peart, Davy (Hannam), Hull (Davis), A Ward, Bulman, Handyside (Mulhall), Kamara