BRIDPORT lost only their second game of the last six and can consider themselves unlucky not to have earned a draw against second-placed Okehampton Argyle, writes Jon Smith.

Okehampton ran out 1-0 winners, with Luke Alden on target.

With only three subs named, including manager Chris Herbst, and leading scorer Tom Richardson starting in defence, the Bees faithful feared the worst.

Their nerves were not helped when Riley Weedon flared a shot over the bar from six yards out in the fifth minute.

The Bees looked odds on to get on the scoresheet in the 18th minute when James Cox found himself clear of the Argyle back line, but was unable to lift the ball over goalie Aaron Dearing. 

Okehampton opened the scoring in the 21st minute in a fortuitous manner when Alden’s shot took enough of a deflection to sneak past Jordon Scadding in the home goal.

The teams exchanged chances including a header wide from Richardson two minutes later and an Okehampton shot being hooked off of the line after 32 minutes by Kieran Daniels. The half finished with Weedon sending a shot over the bar from the edge of the box.

The second half in the main belonged to the Bees.

Fred Parsons headed wide from a corner in the fourth minute of the period, followed by Weedon shooting over and Solomon Ayunga forcing the visitors goalie to push his shot around  the post on the hour.

Richardson headed wide in the 74th minute and in their best move of the half Bridport were fortunate to survive with a goal-line clearance after a concerted Argyle attack.

The hosts nearly rescued a point 10 minutes from the end when a Ryan Gall header was fumbled by keeper Dearing, before he gratefully clutched the ball to his chest.

As tempers began to fray and tackles started to fly in from both sides, Bridport’s Daniels ended the game in the sin bin.

Bees: Scadding, Daniels, Childs, Lock, Richardson, Gall, Weedon, Gape, Ayunga, Cox, Parsons.

Subs not used: Howe, Wyrill, Herbst.