MERLEY COBHAM SPORTS 10

BALTI SPORTS 3

BALTI Sports were dismantled 10-3 at in-form leaders Merley Cobham Sports in a Dorset Premier League encounter drenched in goals.

Merley were 4-0 up at half-time and notched 10 with ease before a Matt Burrows penalty and a Jack Drummond brace gave Balti late cheer.

Balti boss Marco Nott had expected the worst with 10 players out through injury and unavailability and his fears were realised as Merley ran riot.

Cobham were 4-0 up in 15 minutes as former Dorchester striker Matt Groves headed past Andy Nott from eight yards.

Asa Phillips powered through the Balti defence to rifle home two identical goals either side of Joe Wickham’s tap-in from a simple cut-back.

Balti’s Matt Burrows had two decent chances to cut the deficit with the visitors unshy in attack themselves.

But a stunning second-half show from Merley completely frazzled Balti as Groves notched twice more to complete his hat-trick – including a penalty.

Phillips bagged another two goals and Dan Edwards notched to make it 8-0 before ex-Dorchester centre-back Nathan Walker and Steve Gilbert slotted home.

Balti, to their credit, never gave up as Burrows won and scored a penalty before Jack Drummond bagged two solo goals, rifling into the far corner on both occasions.

After the 13-goal frenzy, Marco Nott said: “No complaints about the result, it was probably the worst defeat of my time at Balti – playing and managing.

“Considering seven of the 11 were under 21, they stuck at it really well and I can’t fault the lads for their attitude.

“But it was demoralising to see, the quality is just not there with us.

“We’re a shadow of ourselves from last year.

“The young lads will take experience from it and they’ve got to start learning from their mistakes a bit, because we’re making some stupid errors leading to goals.

“It’s not just the young ones, some of the experienced ones had poor moments.

“They were nicking the ball off us, turning us around and scoring from it. It’s so frustrating.

“You can’t give a good side any chances, let alone goals on a plate. They were clinical and you can’t argue they’re a superb side.”

Nott added: “They hammered us, they’re a class outfit, strong through defence into attack and are so well drilled.

“They’re relentless and they were 4-0 up in 15 minutes.

“It was unbelievable. Andy had no chance with all 10, he was distraught but he genuinely didn’t make a mistake.”

Balti: A Nott, Drummond, Jeffery (Grace 55), Beals, Taylor, O’Shaughnessy, McClements, Nichols, Stavrianos (Taylor 60), Houghton, Burrows.

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