Relegation picture explained for Weymouth, Dorchester, Portland and Bridport

Cherries currently sit in second place behind leaders Fulham in the Sky Bet Championship, but the fortunes of the four biggest clubs in the Dorset Council area differ vastly.

Weymouth, Dorchester Town, Bridport and, to a lesser extent, Portland United are all either in danger of the drop or flirting with it.

Here, we take a look at the relegation picture for those four teams and what they must do to stay up.

BRIDPORT – 19th (P29 W1 D0 L28)

Shaun Annetts has seven games left as caretaker Bridport boss Picture: STEPHEN BARRETT

UNDENIABLY the worst off across the at-risk quartet, Bridport have endured a nightmare season in the Toolstation Western League Premier Division.

READ MORE: Tavistock 6-0 Bridport - match report

With the 2020/21 season curtailed due to the pandemic, the Bees had much longer to plan their efforts than usual.

Then boss John Godbold, green-lighted by chairman Adrian Scadding, opted for a focus on youth.

However, the quality of the youngsters Bridport have brought in has not been sufficient to match up to what has been the strongest Western League for many years.

Consequently, the Bees have lost 28 of 29 league games and lost at the first time of asking in all four cup competitions available to them.

Their goal difference of minus 137 and a huge 12-1 loss to Saltash are among the many sore points for the Bees this campaign.

With the bottom clubs of all 16 leagues at Step 5 set to take the drop, Bridport are on the precipice.

The Bees cannot be mathematically relegated in midweek – regardless of Street’s result against Saltash – but they can be against Brislington on Saturday.

Shaun Annetts’ men could even beat the Foxes and go down if results went against them.

It means the Bees must win all seven of their remaining league games and hope Street earn fewer than two points in their final 11 matches.

PORTLAND UNITED – 17th (P31 W7 D8 L17)

Portland United are in the safest position of the four Dorset clubs Picture: IAN MIDDLEBROOK

FELLOW Step 5 team Portland United are in the best position of all four mentioned clubs.

Franklyn Clarke’s men need just seven more points to guarantee their status in the Wessex League Premier Division for 2022/23.

READ MORE: Portland United 0-3 Bashley - match report

Second-bottom club Hythe & Dibden must win all of their remaining eight games and hope Portland pick up less than six points in their final nine matches due to their inferior goal difference.

Hythe presently have a minus 91 goal difference, some 68 goals worse off than the Blues.

Portland, who have one of the most exciting young squads in the division, could take a giant step closer to safety with victory at bottom side Amesbury Town on Saturday.

DORCHESTER TOWN – 20th (P33 W8 D4 L21)

Dorchester Town are involved in their fourth relegation battle in five seasons Picture: DAVID PARTRIDGE

DORCHESTER Town are no strangers to a relegation battle.

The Magpies needed a late equaliser from David Jerrard at Stratford to keep them up on the final day of the 2016/17 Southern League South season.

READ MORE: Jack Wadham 'buzzing' for Dorchester Town loan

In the 2018/19 campaign, a 6-0 win over Tiverton kept the Magpies up with a game to spare.

Even the pandemic helped save Dorchester in the 2019/20 season when the Magpies were 10 points adrift of safety before Covid-19 hit.

Glenn Howes’ men are now in 20th and in peril as the worst of the four third-bottom clubs at Step 3, as it stands.

The bottom two in each of the four divisions will go down, along with the worst-off side in the pool of bottom-three clubs.

Currently, that pool is graded on points per game and Dorchester’s is 0.08 poorer than required to achieve safety.

With nine games to go, the Magpies have a simple equation in front of them – finish above Kings Langley.

Lango are in 19th, the final safe position in the Pitching In Southern League Premier South but only one point ahead of Dorchester having played a game more.

The two sides also play each other in ‘Mega March’ in what is increasingly looking like a pivotal month.

WEYMOUTH – 21st (P30 W5 D7 L18)

Weymouth's defeat at Stockport kept them nine points adrift of safety Picture: MARK PROBIN

AFTER successive promotions to the National League followed by consolidation last season, it seems Weymouth are experiencing ‘second season syndrome’.

Previous boss Brian Stock had led Weymouth to a high of ninth place after wins over Maidenhead and Solihull were reinforced by a 1-1 draw with Notts County.

READ MORE: New assistant Tom Donati to play 'very important part' at Weymouth

But results quickly dropped off and a brief renaissance against Aldershot and King’s Lynn was followed by a 13-game winless streak in the league.

Stock lost his job midway through that slump, which sucked the Terras into the relegation zone where they occupy the first drop-zone place of 21st.

Incumbent manager David Oldfield is now tasked with bridging a nine-point gap to Aldershot with 14 fixtures remaining.

This may seem a tall order for a club whose April schedule includes huge tests against Wrexham, Grimsby, Maidenhead, Yeovil, Notts County and Solihull.

However, the Terras must produce results from somewhere – however unlikely – otherwise they will slip back into the National League South.