SWANAGE TOWN & HERSTON 6

BALTI SPORTS 1

BALTI Sports endured another ugly away day as their end-of-season form continued to plummet with a 6-1 defeat by Swanage Town & Herston.

Marco Nott’s men have now conceded 15 goals in two games since recording back-to-back clean sheets against Hamworthy Reserves and Bridport Reserves.

Balti remain 11th in the Jewson Dorset Premier League but this win for Swanage put them within striking distance of the Weymouth side in 12th.

It all went pear-shaped for Balti after just 30 seconds, slack defending allowing Will Prior to breeze past three challenges and supply Abraham Adesoji for the opening goal.

Swanage doubled their lead after eight minutes when Prior ran through on goal after a long throw and slotted past keeper Andy Nott.

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Balti survived further chances for the Swans before Danny Andrews got the ball stuck in his feet and was denied by Taylor Hibbs in the home goal.

Having closed out a 2-0 deficit to half-time, Balti needed less than a minute to halve their arrears as Sean Zima volleyed a scorching effort past Hibbs from Callum Allison’s cross.

But Swanage swiftly reopened their two-goal lead when sub Cody Moore lashed past Nott and Balti began to falter when Aston Butcher’s handball gifted a penalty to the hosts.

Charlie Brassington stepped up and beat Nott for 4-1 and the Swans continued to raid down Balti’s left in search of further goals.

The tactic duly paid returns as Brassington notched his tenth goal of the season from close range before Adesoji also bagged his double to complete the scoring.

Speaking to Echosport, Marco Nott said: “We had a side that I felt could win the game but the form and confidence is at an all-time low throughout the squad and probably me as a manager.

“We wanted to start well but we conceded within 30 seconds, which was the most basic goal to concede.

“We went 2-0 down and then the confidence sapped out of us. We got to 2-0 at half-time and played all right, got the goal and went 2-1.

“We thought we might get back into the game but they gave away some schoolboy goals and 6-1 was ridiculous.

“Every time they were attacking they were scoring, it was so poor defensively it was unbelievable.”

Balti host title-chasing Westland Sports on Saturday (3pm).

Nott added: “The last four games are horrendous, we’ve got top-four sides.

“We’ll have a say in the title race but it might be more to do with the goal difference than anything else.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re defensively sound because when Balti have been at their best over the years, Westland have been tough to beat.

“They’re doing well in the title race so it’s going to be extremely difficult. It will be nice to get back home, I don’t think we’ve played there for weeks.

“It’s crucial we start well, the first 15-20 minutes are vital. Hopefully we can raise confidence and then play.

“But we’ve got to build that foundation, we can’t keep conceding in the first five minutes.”

Carl McClements and Pete Jarvis return to boost Balti’s midfield.

Balti: A Nott, Curran, Butcher, Houghton, Harvey, Chambers, Allison (Brisco 50), Halloran, Nichols, Andrews, S Zima.