Biddestone 1, Portishead 3 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Biddestone 1, Portishead 3

GARY Skidmore has accused the majority of his players of "going missing" on Wednesday night after they crashed to a miserable Western League defeat.

The Biddestone boss was furious with his side's lack of application and focus during the second half at Hardenhuish and admitted there was only so much the management team could do.

Skidmore has challenged his players raise their game ahead of tomorrow's trip to Cadbury Heath and Monday's clash against Westbury or risk facing another relegation battle.

He said: "We started quite well and could have two or three goals up but then too many players went missing.

"Most of the 11 did not perform and it is not good enough. I have had some strong words to say after the game as we did not defend well and didn't look sharp anywhere on the pitch.

"The communication was bad and it seemed as the lads lacked real application. The attitudes were all wrong and we could be in for a long season if we carry on like that."

Without midfielders Dean Brookman and Luke Gullick in the side, Biddestone started brightly and were unlucky on eight minutes when Scott Evans headed Paul Poiner's right wing cross against the post.

Skipper Will Edwards reacted quickly to the rebound but his attempt was brilliantly blocked at point blank range by goalkeeper Kev Walker.

Ten minutes later Joe O'Chuko saw a well hit volley strike the base of the near post as Biddestone started to get frustrated at their inability to break the deadlock.

Their lack of ruthlessness was punished on 28 minutes when James Clarke headed Dane Pettitt's cross past goalkeeper Chris Snoddy for the opener.

Five minutes later their lead was doubled when Eddie Drury slipped in the left back position and Clarke was able to coolly slot home after Jack Nicholas had cleared Pettitt's original effort off the line.

Biddestone battled back and immediately pulled a goal back after Poiner's strike from the edge of the area.

Sadly that was as good as it got for Biddestone, as they produced a lacklustre second half display that allowed Portishead to coast to victory.

Clive Holder showed some neat footwork to add the visitor's third while Biddestone failed to threaten.

Skidmore said: "We had to make a few changes but we can't use that as an excuse as those players should be good enough to do better than that.

"I don't know what to do because you can do all the preparation in the world but once the game starts it is down to the players and unfortunately they just were not up to it.

"I think maybe a few of them are still acclimatising to this level of football but the time has come now when they need to do it quickly."