BALTI Sports’ boss Marco Nott described as a “massive relief” beating Bridport Reserves 1-0 to secure a first win of 2023.

Balti had a catalogue of chances, Sean Zima seeing his left-footed shot saved by Sam Moggeridge.

However, Moggeridge was at fault for the winner as Danny Andrews’ cross from 30 yards out deceived the keeper at his near post.

Moggeridge bounced back by denying Andrews in a one-on-one chance following Sammy Nichols’ scything through ball.

READ MORE: Poole Borough 0-0 Balti Sports - report

At the other end, Pete Jarvis made a crucial slide tackle to deny Bridport a shooting chance before half-time.

Bridport dominated possession in the second half but saw opportunities come and go for Finn Morgan, who scuffed at goal, and Robin Jones who cut inside and fired at keeper Andy Nott.

Dom McAllister then dragged a shot wide on 75 minutes and, while Bridport threatened with long spells of possession, the Balti defence proved impenetrable, captain Aston Butcher performing a perfect block tackle when the Bees looked poised to score.

After ending the 101-day wait for a victory, Balti boss Marco Nott said: “It’s a massive relief. Having to this long without a win in the calendar year was extremely concerning.

“It’s nice to see that we’ve finally got a result to show for our recent performances.

“The last three weeks we’ve worked our socks off with no reward. It’s nice to get over the line.

“You can see there were some tired legs, they gave it their all. The back four were absolutely outstanding.”

Three days earlier, Balti lost 3-1 at Merley, writes Ian Gilmartin.

First-half goals from George Coleman and Mike Trim put Merley in control before the break and a second-half strike of quality from man-of-the-match Jack Foden secured the points for the home side.

Although, a late Danny Andrews goal for Balti made the last eight minutes interesting.

Balti now host bottom side Shaftesbury Town Reserves tomorrow (3pm).

Nott added: “It will be nice to be back home for the first time in a few weeks and we want back-to-back wins.

“We’ve targeted these two games as we were slipping down the league. If bad results happened we would’ve been looking over our shoulder.

“Hopefully we can get back-to-back wins. When we played up there we dominated possession but unbelievably lost 2-1. Hopefully we can get them back.”

Matt Brisco (hamstring) and Callum Allison (dead leg) are doubts, but Sammy Nichols is unavailable. Strike duo Oscar Preece and Taylor Brown are in contention.