DORCHESTER SPORTS 0

MERLEY COBHAM SPORTS 4

DORCHESTER Sports suffered their first home opening day defeat since their rise to the Dorset Premier League as Merley Cobham Sports won 4-0 at the Avenue Stadium.

Ashley James’ men had secured victories in each of their four home curtain-raisers in Dorset’s top flight, but came up against a Merley side reluctant to add to that statistic.

Sports could have narrowed the scoreline were it not for a wasteful first half as Jamie West missed two half-chances before Darren Watts forced a good save by the away keeper from long range.

James’ troops had plenty of possession in the Merley half but lacked creativity in the final third as Merley survived.

Finally made to pay for their profligacy, Sports fell behind as a long ball to Asa Phillips unshackled the lethal Merley strike force, Phillips squaring to ex-Magpie Matt Groves to slot home on 43 minutes.

Sports looked deflated having dominated the opening period and Merley killed the game off soon after half-time.

Phillips converted from 10 yards before beating home keeper Antony Frost in a one-on-one to make it 3-0 in the 55th minute.

Merley added gloss to the scoreline when Dan Edwards rifled a 30-yard scorcher past Frost to seal all three points.

Speaking to Echosport, James rued Sports’ failure to capitalise on a promising first half.

He said: “Second half they were dominant but I don’t think we deserved to lose 4-0 after the first-half performance.

“If you take your foot off the gas against Merley, you’ll get punished (for) any little mistake and we made two either side of half-time.

“For 43 minutes we were in the game, had chances, but we didn’t score when we were on top.

“One mistake before half-time and that was game over – very disappointing.

“We were gutted to go in 1-0 down at half-time and we didn’t get our heads back on.

“We stopped doing what we were doing in the first half and made another mistake playing the ball in our own box.

“Then heads dropped and it was a very tough 40 minutes after that.

“Fair play to our lads, they didn’t stop trying but didn’t really create anything.”

Dorchester Sports next visit Bridport Reserves in league action at St Mary’s Field on Saturday (3pm).

Sports: Frost, Smith, Sibley, Anstey, Mansley, Watts, G Will (Samways 55), Gosney, Hewitt (Rawlings 55), Symes, West (Stafie 55). Subs not used: A Steele, A Gould.

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