BRIDPORT 2

CRIBBS 4

BRIDPORT boss Adam Fricker insisted his side lacked “heart, fight and spirit” during the second half in which they crumbled to a defeat against Cribbs.

There will be no FA Vase run at St Mary’s Field this season after Fricker’s charges were hit for four against a team three places above them in the league table at present.

The Bees’ boss said: “We went in at half-time really happy to be fair. We were dominating the game and playing some great football at times.

“Maybe that, from a players’ perspective, was the problem. Maybe they came out in the second half thinking the game was already won.

“Basically, we just didn’t come out in the second half. We were really poor and just lost it completely. I am really disappointed.”

Visitors Cribbs took the lead from a set-piece early on through Liam Clayton but the Bees hit back through experienced frontman Mark Salter.

He struck twice before the interval to put the home side in the ascendancy, initially slotting home from Ed Butcher’s cross and then finishing well after gathering a through ball to make it 2-1 seven minutes from the break.

But having held the lead at the half-time, Bridport ended up being dumped out of the Vase as the visitors struck three times in the second period to seal a 4-2 victory.

Clayton added his second to make it 2-2, Rhys Hodgson then got his name on the scoresheet and George King wrapped up the contest.

Bridport’s Salter also failed to convert from the penalty spot late on to add to the Bees’ misery.

Asked what he felt was lacking in the second half, Fricker replied: “Just a bit of heart I think. A bit of heart, fight and spirit.

“The heads just dropped and we didn’t have the characters out on that pitch to grab the other lads round the scruff of the neck and get us back in it.

“Defensively, we were very shaky at the back and, when they equalised and got themselves back in it, unfortunately, five or six of our players went hiding. It’s always going to be an uphill task from that position.

“We got punished and, in the second half Cribbs deserved it, we can’t argue with that fact. Football is based on 90 minutes, not 45.”

Bees: Hutchings, Condliffe, Haines, Spurway (Blair 69), Bailey, Martin (Chlopecki 75), Symes (Woodland 78), Peach, Salter, Bulman, Butcher

Attendance: 92