TAVISTOCK  0 BRIDPORT 2

BRIDPORT will play Sherborne Town in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase after a hard-earned victory over Tavistock, but the Bees left it late to finally kill off their 10-man hosts.

Dan Wise netted a penalty with 13 minutes left on the clock and then Ben Clarke made the tie safe six minutes later with a sec-ond after Tavistock had played much of the game a man short following a 15th minute dismissal.

Boss Trevior Senior admitted his side had made hard work of the game as the opposition had not been as strong as he had envisaged.

He said: “We did make hard work of it but it’s important we got the win in the end.

“In the last two games we have just done enough to win without playing as well as we can – in fact I still don’t think we have been playing our best, flowing football yet.”

The Bees got on top early without really threatening to score and then a rash tackle on Sam Buckler earned a straight red card for a home defender 15 minutes into the tie.

Senior explained: “That was a bonus really but they got men behind the ball and made it difficult for us.

“We had lots of possession and Matt Condliffe saw two early efforts go wide.

“Chris Clarke had a good run and left-foot shot that was well saved and Ben Clarke brought a good save from the keeper from close range but overall 0-0 was fair at half-time.

“We had kept it well without really causing them any problems and we knew we had to be more positive in the second half.”

Just past the hour mark, Senior made a bold move in making a triple substitution and his side’s luck changed with a penalty decision 13 minutes from time.

Senior added: “Shane Evans got the ball wide, took on the full-back but got brought down.

“The keeper got a hand to Dan Wise’s penalty but the power took it into the net. We had been patient and looked in control from then on.”

And the visitors finally wrap-ped up the game with a killer second goal six minutes later.

A diagonal ball by Evans was helped on by Dan Peart and there was Ben Clarke, turning on the edge of the box, to sidefoot in off the right-hand post from 10 yards.

The Bees can look forward to a derby in the next round after Sherborne won 2-1 at Keynsham and both winning sides boosted their club coffers with £500 prize money.

Bees: Filkins, Evans,C Clarke, Buck-ler, Hill (Senior 65), Hayter, Legg (J Filkins 65), Wise, B Clarke, Condliffe (Peart 65), Luke. Attendance: 50