STOURPAINE 5

Upwey & Broadwey 1

STEVE Reynolds has shouldered much of the responsibility for his side’s dismal defeat at Stourpaine.

Due to the personnel he had available to him, the Upwey & Broadwey boss chose to revert to a 3-5-2 formation but it failed to pay off and by the time he changed it, it was too late.

Reynolds said: “I should have gone back to 4-4-2 at half-time when we were 2-0 down but I thought I would give it another 10 minutes in the second half and unfortunately we ended up conceding two more.

“The minute we did change it we looked a lot better and they could not get the ball off us. In fact, in terms of possession, it was probably 60-40 in our favour but we just did not convert it into goals, which, at the end of the day, is the only statistic that matters.

“None of our key players performed and Ethan Devaney and Pete Bochonko are still trying to get used to playing alongside each other up front.

“I have no doubts that partnership will get better and better but on Saturday they did not click.

“Both players tried to go it alone when they could have easily played in one another for a tap in and it is just those sorts of things that we need to iron out.

“No one really stamped their authority in the midfield either and we were too lethargic in the opening stages.

“We are still missing a few players and we just need to go away now and regroup, and make sure we come back stronger tomorrow when we take on Blandford United Reserves at Redlands.”

One positive to come from the defeat was a third goal in as many games for Sam Nichols, which pulled it back to 4-1 before Adam Billings conceded a late penalty for the Steamers’ fifth.

Adam Robbins and Alex White both netted braces for the hosts with Chris Trent grabbing the other. They now sit third in the Dorset Senior League table while Upwey have slumped to third bottom.

Upwey: A McLucas, Wellman, Anderson, Billings, Frost, Young, Purnell (Crawford 60), Pearce, Nicholls, Bochonko, Devaney.