PARLEY SPORTS 3 BRIDPORT RESERVES 2

ROBIN Townsend felt his men were extremely unfortunate to come away from Parley empty handed.

A slow start by the Bees saw them go two down in the opening 15 minutes but for the final hour they completely dominated and deserved a share of the spoils at the very least.

Roger Cummings pulled one back before half-time with a header before a deft touch at a free-kick from Dominic Rowe levelled matters midway through the second half.

The visitors then went on to hit the woodwork twice only for Sports to snatch the win late on with a deflected goal from Dan Hiscock. The hosts’ other strikes came from Paul Rideout and Ben Bosley.

Townsend said: “We tried to address matters from the previous week when we started slowly at Tintinhull but for some reason it happened again and after just 15 minutes we found ourselves 2-0 down.

“We had a few problems tactically but once we sorted ourselves out defensively we went on to be the better side.

“Michael Hailu missed a great chance from three yards out and a couple of other opportunities went begging too but then Roger put one away with his head and at half-time we felt confident we could turn it around.

“We told the lads what we wanted from them and for the next 40 minutes we battered them. In fact, how on earth we have come away with nothing is beyond me.

“Dominic got us back to 2-2 with his first goal for the club and we also hit the bar and post before they then grabbed the winner with five minutes remaining with a deflected effort following a bit of a melee, which left Jamie Fry completely wrong-footed.

“I was gutted for the boys afterwards because they didn’t deserve that but I also told them I was proud of them too because in the second half we really did play some fantastic stuff and deserved a lot more.”

The result has seen Parley leapfrog Bridport into fifth spot in the Magna Dorset Premier League. Townsend went on to add: “It was just one of those where that bit of luck deserted us. At Tintinhull the previous week things went our way but this time they didn’t.

“On another day we could have come away from there with an 8-3 victory but our finishing let us down and that is the way things go sometimes.

“One thing is for sure though and that is if Parley went on to finish above us at the end of the season on the strength of that one result it would be very harsh indeed.”

The Bees will look to bounce back this Saturday when they host Weymouth Reserves at St Mary’s Field (3pm).

Bees: Fry, Rowe, Stordy, Day, Fleet, Cummings (Herbst 84), G Bulman, C Bulman, Hailu, Morgan, A Clarke. Sub not used: King.