STURMINSTER NEWTON UNITED 4

BALTI SPORTS 0

BALTI Sports began their 4-0 defeat at Jewson Dorset Premier League leaders Sturminster Newton United with nine men on a day to forget at Barnetts Field.

Beset by availability problems again, Balti were indebted to Zima brothers Sean and Rory for stepping in.

While the duo were promised starting slots, they arrived shortly after the 3pm kick-off – by which time Stur had already gone 1-0 up when Elliot Bevis engineered space in the area to score inside one minute.

The Zimas took to the field in the tenth minute but Balti soon went 2-0 down when Nick Thompson found room in the box from a corner to beat Andy Nott in the away goal.

READ MORE: Balti Sports 2-2 Dorchester Sports - match report

Balti improved after the concession, winning corners and seeing two snapshots by Jack Drummond whistle past the uprights.

However, the Cherries delivered a sucker punch before the break when George Coleman’s inch-perfect cross picked out the run of Aaron Lane-Leney, who superbly controlled a volley past Nott for 3-0.

Nott was in top form with numerous big saves to keep the scoreline moderately respectable in the second half as Balti managed to restrict the hosts.

Balti were then denied a consolation when Lloyd Beals’ cutting through ball sent Taylor Brown through, only for Cherries’ keeper Theo Crane to make a good block that would preserve his clean sheet.

Despite a more competitive second half, Stur put the icing on their cake when Thompson grabbed his second courtesy of a simple finish to complete the scoring.

Speaking to Echosport, Balti boss Marco Nott highlighted his club’s problems with team selection as a major cause for the defeat.

He said: “I’m pleased with the efforts, I can’t fault them, but we need to sort the availability out. It’s killing us, disappointing to say the least.

“Players sign a form committing them to a full season of football and at the moment a few of them aren’t giving me the commitment I think is deserved.

“When you go to top of the league it’s a real difficult ask to get anything out of the game against these sides. We’re always up against it.”

Balti did have 11 players at kick-off but Nott elected to keep his promise to the Zimas.

“We had a bit of a conundrum,” he admitted. “We had 11 for kick-off but the Zimas became available last minute.

“Rory was working and he was the driver to pick Sean up. I got on the phone to them and they were ten minutes away at quarter to three.

“If we did delay it five minutes they would’ve been there for kick-off, but it wasn’t the case. They turned up a minute into the game.

“The problem I had was that I had two subs that haven’t played a lot this season. I thought if I play them, I’d have to bring the Zimas on at half-time because they made the effort of coming up.

“Luckily we didn’t do it that way because we had a couple of injuries in the second half, which would’ve meant that we’d have played with nine anyway.

“It was a bit all over the place the first five minutes and we went 1-0 down.”

Nott also confessed the situation had been “embarrassing” for him as manager.

He said: “It’s not ideal. I could’ve probably taken my absolute best team up there and we’d have been 1-0 down after five minutes.

“If you’re up against it anyway, to start the game on a negative it was always going to be a challenge.

“To go there and almost start on minus one, it was going to be difficult.

“When you’re begging players to play, which is ridiculous and I shouldn’t have to, you tend to feel you’ve got to stick to your promise.

“It was a very low point, embarrassing. When we had 11 players, it was pretty even.

“I must add that by brother pulled off numerous saves and was by far the man of the match.

“He really did keep us in it. He was making save after save from point blank, tipping it over the bar,  catching, he was superb.

“It was one of his best games. I felt sorry for him and the defence. We just couldn’t claw it back.

“But I was really proud of the effort. The lads gave it 100 per cent. We could’ve easily felt sorry for ourselves and given up, especially after losing 8-0 to them at home.”

Balti host Holt United on Saturday (2pm).

Balti: A Nott, Brisco (Harvey 70), Butcher, Roberts, Allison, Beals, S Zima, R Zima, Chambers (Reid 55), Drummond, Brown.