Westland Sports Reserves 0

Portland United Reserves 1

PORTLAND United Reserves returned from Somerset with a clean sheet and three vital points on Wednesday night in the Dorset Senior League.

The pivotal moment in the game came just short of the hour mark as the Blues were awarded a penalty when a Westlands player handled the ball in the area and Sean Zima stepped up to smash the resulting spot kick low beyond the goalkeeper's reach.

The hosts pushed late on with Sean Hawke making a superb goalline clearance to keep Westland at bay and claim the points for his team.

This result leaves the Blues level on points with second placed Chickerell with a game in hand and seven points behind top of the table Corfe Castle with two games in hand and, with Corfe still to travel to play Portland United Reserves, whilst moving five points ahead of Westlands in fourth still with a game in hand.

Portland manager Justin Faulkner said: "It was a real end to end game, on social media they were billing it as a six-pointer in terms of finishing in the top four so it shows how much of a good result that was for us.

"The penalty was clear and I thought the referee had a decent game, I don`t like to see other teams getting on to a referee it just lacks a bit of class, but from the first whistle they were on to him."

Faulkner added: "I think with the run we are on that we have to accept we are gatecrashing this title race late on when it had earlier looked like a two horse race, I would rather have the points on the board in this most unpredictable of seasons. We have still got four games to play, three at home and one away. One thing is for sure we will remain focused and keep the pressure on the teams above us and we hope we are still in with a shout going in to the final day."

Portland: Gregg, Gould, Hankin, Sharpe, Beals, Hawke, Camp, S Zima, Arliss, McKechnie, R Zima, Prudames, Ryan, Wilson.