ANDOVER TOWN 4

Glasspool 7, Gosney 68, 89, Silver 75

PORTLAND UNITED 0

PORTLAND United suffered a late collapse as three goals in 21 minutes saw them fall to a 4-0 loss at leaders Andover in the Sydenhams Wessex Premier Division.

The scoreline could have been worse had Sean Lillington not saved a first-half penalty from in-form striker Zach Glasspool.

As it was, Glasspool could not add to his opening strike of the game on seven minutes, as Portland matched their high-flying opponents for large spells.

But the second, from Mike Gosney on 68 minutes, killed Portland’s chances of claiming a point as Town scored twice more through Gosney and Jay Silver.

Speaking to Echosport after the match, Portland boss Gary Bailey felt his side should not be humiliated for losing to the league’s runaway leaders.

He said: “There’s no shame in losing to them but for 70 minutes we were holding our own. We went 1-0 down when we gave the ball away in midfield and they hit us on the break and scored.

“Even though they had the lion’s share of the game we were coping quite well. They got a penalty which Sean saved superbly and we went in 1-0 down.

“We were quite positive about the first-half performance. We had a chat about our shape and we went out second half and they weren’t really hurting us.

“One-nil after 70 minutes you’ve always got a chance of pinching something, but we shot ourselves in the foot and they were ruthless. That’s why they are top.”

Bailey added that the subsidence in the final 20 minutes had been a capitulation.

He said: “We gave them a chance and they hit a shot which took a deflection and flew into the top corner. The disappointing thing is that we capitulated and stopped doing what we were doing well. It’s demoralising.

“Take nothing away from Andover, they’re a good side and were a threat on the counter. We got hit with a couple of diagonal balls which they scored from on one side and then on the other.

“We’re disappointed with all four goals. If a team score a couple of worldies you say ‘fair enough’ but we certainly contributed to our own downfall.”

Bailey did, however, reason why a poor finish to the game occurred for his side.

He said: “When you’re mid-table playing a top side and you’re 2-0 down it’s difficult to find those energies and unfortunately we just got steamrollered a little bit.”

Blues: Lillington, Sharpe, Butcher, Whyton, Bessant (Zima 46), Halloran, Doidge, McKechnie, Bearwish, Baker (Okumu 55), Mitchell (Payne 75)

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