PORTLAND UNITED 2

McKechnie pen (2)

BAFFINS M ROVERS 4

T Leigh, Parish, Cornish, Taw

PORTLAND United put up a spirited display against Baffins Milton Rovers but eventually went down 4-2 in their Sydenhams Wessex Premier Division encounter.

Tommy Leigh, Jason Parish, Shane Cornish and Robbie Taw all got on the scoresheet for Rovers as Ryan McKechnie bagged two penalties for the hosts.

A severely depleted Blues side, containing a number of teenagers, battled their way to 2-2 after going 2-0 down but found Rovers in no mood to relinquish the win as the Portsmouth-based outfit added two goals to their tally in completing the victory.

Baffins took an early lead when a crossfield ball was controlled and rifled into the net from the corner of the box.

Rovers struck a second soon afterwards, despite a good response from Portland, when a peachy delivery from a corner was headed home against the run of play.

Portland were undeterred and forced a spot-kick when a Baffins defender handballed on the line, with McKechnie halving the deficit.

Just before half-time Tom Richardson was tripped when primed to pull the trigger and McKechnie slotted in his second penalty of the afternoon.

After the restart, Baffins punished the Blues for giving away a sloppy free-kick, scoring directly from it before Rovers caught the Blues on the break with a brilliant 30-yard chip.

Speaking to Echosport, Portland boss Brendon King felt the Blues’ youngsters had been a “credit to the club”.

He said: “It’s not about the result, for me. It’s about the performance with the amount of players we had missing.

“We had 11 or 12 of the first-team squad missing and three 16-year-olds starting. People were playing out of position and they were a credit to the club.

“I wanted the lads to play with a bit of freedom and we nearly got something out of it.

“It was good for the lads to come back from 2-0 down because it could’ve been a long afternoon with the side we had out.

“But the endeavour, work-rate and commitment was absolutely first-class.

“It’s a little bit disappointing, the scoreline flattered them in the end. But I’ve got nothing but praise for them.

“We had Crit Clarke playing centre-half, Tom Richardson playing centre-half, Ed Bastick played right-back.

“(We had) Sol Roche, Manny Roche, Harry Hutchinson, Bailey Rowe, Lance Wilson who come on, Jordan Moore, George Carter – it looked like a youth club at times but they were a credit to the club.”

Portland host Lymington tomorrow (7.45pm).

Blues: Edgar, Bastick (Carter 83), Richardson, C Clarke, Hutchinson, McKechnie, Marshallsay (Moore 85), E Roche, S Roche, Rowe (Wilson 75), Beasley.

Match & Match Ball Sponsors: David & Alyson Morris in memory of David’s Dad, Neil.

Man of the Match: Ryan McKechnie with a special mention of 18-year-old Emmanuel Roche.

Attendance: 144