BRIDPORT booked their spot in round one of the Les Phillips Cup courtesy of three goals in four minutes at St Mary's Field.

A double from Shane Evans and one from strike partner Ashley Clarke fired the Bees into a three-goal lead after just 12 minutes of the preliminary round clash against Minehead.

But despite their head start the hosts were left clinging on at the end as goals from Micky Burns and skipper Luke Taylor had given the Somer-set side hope.

Royston Davies was pleased with his fifth victory as Bridport manager but was far from happy about having to cling on at the end.

He said: "We went from the sublime to the ridiculous.

"We played some super football at the start, our strikers were very efficient, we made four chances and scored three goals but then instead of playing the game simple we started trying to hit impossible balls and forgot the basics."

Davies handed Lee Cleal the gloves for the cup clash in a bid to keep him in tune in case of injuries to regular stoppers Lee Cuff and Mark Cuff.

And although the former Lyme Regis striker looked nervous for most of the afternoon he was a mere spectator in the opening skirmishes.

The rampant Bees took the lead in the eighth minute when Clarke raced on to a lobbed pass to drive the ball beyond Minehead stopper Adam Jones.

And then little more than 60 seconds later Evans doubled the advantage with a free header from a brilliant right- wing cross by Ryan Hayter.

Evans completed the dream start when he headed home another right-wing centre.

If it had been a boxing bout referee Royston Mitchell would have called a halt to proceedings.

Minehead looked incapable of fighting back against a Bridport side in devastating mood.

However, midway through the first half Burns latched on to a hopeful pass from Andy Hall and lifted the ball beyond Cleal, who had got himself stranded on the edge of his box.

The interval came without further alarm but disaster struck within a minute of the restart.

Just 28 seconds after the players resumed Taylor rifled the ball past Cleal from close range following some fine play by striker Sam Hutch-ings, and nerves began jangling.

Hutchings had two wonderful chances to equalise before Hall and Taylor went close as Bridport's performance desc-ended into a shambles.

Davies decided to replace Stuart King with experienced centre back Darren Stewart shortly after the hour mark and his introduction added some much-needed composure to the rearguard.

Lee Todd and Simon Lyons still had great chances to send the game into extra-time but in the end the Bees held on to their three-goal head start.

Bridport will host Bath club Odd Down in the first round of the Les Phillips Cup on Saturday, November 10.

Bees: Cleal, King (Stewart 62mins), Senior, D Lock, Hayter, Churchill (Potter 83mins), Coggins, Symes, Thornton (Condliffe 52mins), Clarke, Evans. Subs not used: M Lock, L Cuff.