BLANDFORD UNITED 9

BALTI SPORTS 0

BLANDFORD United battered an out-of-sorts Balti Sports 9-0 at Park Road in the Jewson Dorset Premier League.

The size of the club-record loss caused manager Marco Nott to label it as the “lowest point” in his club’s history.

Balti could only take 12 players to north Dorset, while another turned up halfway through the game to join the bench, encapsulating the Weymouth side’s rocky end to the season.

Coming into this game, Balti had kept three clean sheets in four games but staggeringly found themselves 6-0 down by half-time against the Royals.

READ MORE: Hamworthy United Reserves 0-0 Balti Sports - report

Injuries and unavailability have badly hampered Balti in recent weeks, making their defensive record all the more impressive.

However, they simply did not compete on a soggy Blandford surface and missed a couple of early chances through debutant Tom Cherry.

Blandford ran riot in the first half, though, as Joe Freak headed home unmarked and Reuben Stanley fired Blandford’s second from 20 yards.

Balti’s Josh Burton headed at Blandford’s keeper, former Weymouth striker Mark Ford, before the visitors gradually limped through the game.

Freak beat a casual offside trap before slotting underneath keeper Andy Nott for 3-0 and Elliott Manson tapped in from close range for 4-0.

Balti skipper Aston Butcher was sin-binned, putting Balti down to ten men for ten minutes, compounding matters for Sports.

Poor marking then allowed Pat Jenkins to run through and, after his initial effort was saved by Nott, he slid in the rebound for 5-0 on 30 minutes.

Blandford completed a dream first half by fooling the Balti defence with a free-kick, enabling Manson freedom in the area to notch the hosts’ sixth.

Stanley added a seventh when clean through in the 50th minute before Archie McCarthy rifled home into the bottom corner from 25 yards.

And Joe Kempster netted a ninth for Blandford two minutes from time as Balti narrowly escaped shipping double figures in a gruesome performance.

Speaking to Echosport, boss Marco Nott pulled no punches.

He said: “I’m not shocked, we deserve it because of how bad we are off the pitch.

“If you can’t be bothered to turn up and unavailability is as bad as it is, sooner or later we’re going to get absolutely pumped. That’s what happened.

“It was shambolic, embarrassing, shocking. That was certainly the lowest point in my Balti career. We wanted the game to finish as soon as possible.

“It’s almost like a Sunday pub team. You’re begging players to play. The attitude’s shocking.

“We’ve got a few injuries, which can’t be helped. It’s a combination of everything. It was 6-0 at half-time and was a distraught dressing room.

“I would have taken 9-0 at half-time, that’s how bad it was.”

Balti visit Swanage Town & Herston on Saturday (3pm).

Balti: A Nott, Harvey, Butcher, Walker, Burton (Houghton 60), Chambers, Halloran (Spearing 70), Beals, Read, S Zima, Cherry.