HAMWORTHY RECREATION 4

DORCHESTER SPORTS 3

DORCHESTER Sports threw away their best chance possible of climbing the table and beating the league pace setters Hamworthy Recreation by throwing away a three-goal half-time lead in the Dorset Premier League.

Sports had freshened up the team that lost to Hamworthy United three days earlier by the same scoreline by giving Jamie Beasley his first start since signing on dual registration from Hamworthy United and Adam Steele, Jamie Rawlings and Jason Read also came into the side.

Sports started like a team out to prove a point and did not let Recreation settle into their usual passing style and instead the away side were on the front foot from the off and got off to a flying start when Beasley's cross from the left found Jamie Samways who made no mistake from close range.

Joel Hewitt was proving a constant threat up top and his shot was well saved just after, but Sports' pressure was too much for Rec and Read tapped in from a Samways corner on 20 minutes to double their lead.

Sports then dominated the first half and deserved their third goal just before the break, when Hewitt's hard work paid off and his strike from the edge of the box found the bottom corner for 3-0. In response Hamworthy made a triple substitution in a bid to get back into the game and it worked as Carl Edwards lobbed his shot over the out coming Antony Frost on 55 minutes.

Hewitt and Beasley had good chances well saved by Sam Jones in the Hamworthy goal to extend the lead but the home side found another gear and when Chris Long and Bradley Hill made it 3-3 Sports looked shell shocked.

On 86 minutes the collapse was complete as John Webb turned Luke Gatehouse and shot low past Frost to complete the turn around.

Dorchester Sports manager Ashley James said: "It is heartbreaking really. We were so dominant in the first half. It is hard to put into words how a 15 minute break can change the way you play so drastically.

"It is just frustrating, heartbreaking.

"It is just really unlike us to concede so many goals. I do not know what has happened. It is hard to explain, the first half we were really tight."

Sports host Swanage Town & Herston at the Avenue Stadium on Wednesday (6.30).

Sports: Frost, Gatehouse, Read, Gould, Steele, (R Beasley 75), Critchel, Symes, Samways, Hewitt (Turland 65), Rawlings (Will 70), Beasley.