BALTI SPORTS 1

BLANDFORD UNITED 4

BALTI boss Marco Nott admitted “confidence is shot” throughout his squad at present, as they fell to another disappointing result at home to Blandford United.

The current league leaders saw their challenge for the title all but ended as they were beaten by Blandford, who scored twice in each half to seal a shock victory.

“The confidence is shot, to be honest,” manager Nott told Echosport.

“We gave it our all on Saturday but we lack a bit of belief on the ball at the moment. We are quite nervous, which is unlike us.

“Our heads dropped and, every time they seem to go forward, teams are scoring against us at the moment. We are making mistakes through not being confident and we are not scoring at the other end, so it’s probably a bad combination!

“In the DPL it’s probably our toughest run. It’s quite unforgiving in this league, if you aren’t at it you tend to lose games.”

Balti fell 2-0 down before Charlie Kenderdine pulled one back for the hosts before the break.

But, although they had the majority of the possession against the Royals in the second period, Nott’s men shipped two more goals to fall to a crushing reverse.

Robert Manson netted a hat-trick on the afternoon for the away side and there was also a goal for Paul Ford.

The defeat leaves Balti five points clear at the top of the league but they have played six games more than second-placed Holt United, who they lost 1-0 against last month.

Nott added: “We had a good chat before the game and I am struggling to understand it.

“The one thing we really need at the moment is to be able to get the first goal and we didn’t get it.

“I just think the Holt game has knocked the stuffing out of us really and our mentality does get questioned a little bit.”

Balti: A Nott, Pearce, Anderson, Proffitt, Batchelor (Roberts), Devaney, Kenderdine, McClements, Lock, Preece, Andrews (Lane). Subs not used: Burton, M Nott, Taylor