BRIDPORT 3 ODD DOWN 3 BRIDPORT signed off for the summer with a bright and lively display in a six-goal Sunday thriller at St Mary's Field.

Free of the shadow of relegation for the first time since last September, the Bees gave a relaxed performance against the busy Bath side.

Some of their football was the best produced for a while and there were individual performances, particularly those from wing backs Dan Taylor and Marcus Whitfield and midfield player Adam Watson, that showed a growing maturity at Screwfix Direct Premier Division level.

While most Bridport players will look back with pleasure on the last match of a difficult season, goalkeeper Martin Peters will want to forget it.

Peters has been a hero throughout the campaign and his safe hands have played a major role in keeping the Bees up against the odds. Yesterday he made his first two unforced errors of the season - and they cost his side two goals and only their fifth home win since the season kicked off last August.

Bridport player-manager Derek Walkey said the mistakes only underlined how efficient Peters normally was.

He preferred to concentrate on the positive aspects of his side's display.

"I thought we were the better side thoughout the game apart from ten minutes at the start of each half," he said. "We played very well considering it was the last game.

"The team performance was good and it would have been nice to have won and gone above Bishop Sutton on goal difference.

"The pitch was superb for the time of year and they are a mid-table side on merit, so that should tell people something about us.

"If it was a boxing match we would have won on points."

But errors were not confined to Peters or Bridport. An Odd Down back pass was intercepted as early as the fourth minute by Simon Gale whose shot beat Tristan Westlake but rolled wide of the far post. The Bridport skipper was off target with another low shot before Odd Down replied with an attacking spell that brought them the lead.

Taylor retrieved a rolling ball from beneath the bar to deny Odd Down's James Peart in the 15th minute.

Six minutes later Peters rose unchallenged for a harmless cross from the right. It looked just routine for the goalkeeper, but the ball squirmed out of his fingers to drop into the path of a clearly surprised Nick Wilson, who brushed it over the line. The Bees levelled in the 29th minute when Watson neatly collected a cross from the right from Andy Hitchcock and deftly lobbed Westlake.

Three minutes from the interval Bridport went ahead when Westlake caught the goalkeeping yips, playing a goal-kick straight to Gale who dribbled around him to score his 23rd goal of the season.

Odd Down were the sharper side as the second-half got underway and drew level in the 58th minute when Peart tricked his way along the by-line and drilled in a cross that struck Tom Gardner and dropped over the line.

Bridport's afternoon of defensive self-destruction continued in the 70th minute when Peters, dealing with a back-pass, tried to dribble around Curtis Smith but the Odd Down man's tackle not only won the ball, it sent it rolling over the line to restore the visitor's lead.

Bridport's reply was swift and decisive. Within two minutes Gale had played the ball along the edge of penalty-area to Whitfield who swept a right-footed shot past Westlake. The Bees chased the game in the closing stages in a rousing finale but could not snatch the win that would have matched their performance.

Bridport: Peters, Taylor (Austin 85), Gardner, Grabham, Copeland, J Gisborne, Drake (Donovan 85), Watson, S Gale (Walkey 90), Hitchcock, Whitfield.