BALTI SPORTS 1

WESTLAND SPORTS RES 3

BALTI Sports’ manager Marco Nott put his side’s 3-1 Dorset Senior Trophy last-16 defeat to Westland Sports Reserves down to a “pure lack of confidence”.

Rory Zima scored his second goal in two games to put Balti in front at Weymouth College, but a Steve Ormrod double and a late third from Alex Murphy sealed the hosts’ fate.

Balti were hindered by a plethora of missing senior players, failing to capitalise on the numerous chances their young side created.

Speaking to Echosport after the game, Nott conceded his team lacked the “quality” to turn their opportunities into goals.

He said: “It was a pure lack of confidence again. We had so many chances to equalise or go ahead. We lacked that quality in the final third. That was the big difference.

“We didn’t have that quality to break them down. They defended for their lives. It was a frustrating day at the office.

“It was the youngest team we have put out, which is good in some respects but we must have had eight to ten players out. That’s where we lost the quality.”

Talking through the goals, Nott felt that Zima’s performance had been bittersweet after the winger conceded a penalty after scoring.

He said: “Rory scored a diving header and we started quite brightly. It was really important for us to get the first goal and I felt we could have kicked on.

“Rory then went one-on-one and tried to dink it over the goalkeeper and it went over the crossbar. Within a couple of minutes he’s then pushed the striker in the back and given away a silly penalty – the good and the bad from him.

“They scored the penalty and about five minutes later we let their lad walk around us and he just clipped the ball in the box and the lad put it in at the back post. It was awful defending.

“They hit the bar and then it was all us. Danny (Andrews) missed a few chances, Sammy Nichols missed one, we just couldn’t score. I couldn’t fault the effort but we lacked the quality.

“Their third was a breakaway goal, we were pushing on and had everyone up. They played a long ball and crossed it in for their lad who had a tap-in.”

Despite fielding a weakened team, Nott was still disappointed with the display.

“They’re a league below us so I expected us to be the better team. The squad we had out should still be beating Westland Reserves. It’s as much the fault of the lads that aren’t there,” he said.

Balti: A Nott, Pearce, Proffitt (Preece 60), Roberts, Austin, Nichols, McClements, R Zima, Taylor, Andrews, Houghton. Subs not used: M Nott, C Nott