TREVOR Senior was pleased with his side’s showing at Ladysmead on Saturday despite the final result.

The Bridport boss was happy with both the sharpness and commitment of his players on the day, which saw them create a host of chances against an Evo-Stik Southern Division One South & West outfit which was playing three divisions above them just last season.

Due to the late arrival of Sam Charles, the Toolstation Western Premier Division visitors went with just Tom Richardson up front in the first half and he broke the deadlock with a fine header following a superb cross from the left from Chris Clarke.

Unfortunately, the lead did not last long though as Tiverton capitalised on a moment of indecisiveness at the back by the Bees to draw level just 15 minutes later.

Then, just seconds before half-time, the hosts forged ahead after the referee failed to spot what looked like a clear foul on defender Joe Charles in the build up to the goal.

After the break, Charles and Ben Clarke joined forces up front in a 3-5-2 formation and it nearly paid dividends with the former racing through twice, only to be denied by some fantastic goalkeeping.

The Bees continued pressing but were unable to make it count as Town went on to grab two more to establish a healthy lead.

Heads could have easily dropped at that stage but Richardson pulled another back before Charles was denied yet again, this time from distance, by another fabulous stop.

Eventually, Tiverton went on to add another in the dying seconds but the Bees could still hold their heads high at the final whistle.

Defender Chris Senior, Trevor’s son, said: “The scoreline did not reflect the game at all as we had good spells of possession and created more chances than we probably have in any of our other pre-season games.

“Unfortunately, we came up against a good keeper and although we made a couple of mistakes that cost us goals I think we showed enough to prove that we will be more than competitive come Saturday when we begin our league campaign at home against Corsham Town.

“Pre-season has gone well and there have been some very encouraging performances, so hopefully we can now carry that into the beginning of the season and get off to a good start.”

Michael Nardiello grabbed a hat-trick for Tiverton whose other goals came from Joe Bushin and Owen Howe.