A disconsolate Mitchell Nicholson
DORCHESTER TOWN
1	Gareth Stewart
2	Mark Jermyn
3	Jake Smeeton		55
4	R. Marsh-Brown
5	Gary Bowles
6	Kevin Hill
7	Nick Crittenden
8	Jamie Gleeson		79
9	Darren Watts
10	Nathan Peprah Annan
11	Mitchell Nicholson		59
Substitutes
12	Helder Rodrigues		79
14	Wes Fogden		59
15	Tom Clarke		55
16	Danny Critchel
22	Regan Coward
EASTLEIGH
1	Jason Matthews
2	Warren Goodhind		84
3	Luke Byles
4	Anthony Riviere
5	Tom Jordan
6	Aaron Martin
7	Peter Adeniyi		88
8	Ashley Carew
9	Matt Groves
10	Jamie Brown
11	Tony Taggart		53
Substitutes
12	Neil Sharp		84
13	Gareth Howells
14	Jonny Dixon
15	Brett Williams		53
16	Joe Maxwell		88
Referee
Lee Swaby (Plymouth)

Saturday 31st January 2009
		Dorchester Town	0
		Eastleigh	4
		Riviere 33, Martin 45, Jordan 49, Groves 78

Eastleigh inflict more misery on Magpies

by Ky Capel

The culmination of a crazy week at the Jewson Stadium saw Dorchester suffer a heavy defeat at home to Eastleigh today.

The Magpies had started the better of the two sides but the lack of any firepower, and some fortunate goals, led to their downfall.

Anthony Riviere’s deflected effort opened the scoring shortly after the half-hour, Aaron Martin tapped home the second moments before the half-time break, Tom Jordan headed in number three shortly after the interval and former Magpie Matt Groves rounded off the scoring with 12 minutes to go.

Experienced squad members Mark Jermyn, Gareth Stewart and skipper Kevin Hill were given the task of picking the Magpies’ team following Shaun Brooks’ decision to quit as boss on Wednesday evening.

Mitchell Nicholson, Jamie Gleeson, Gary Bowles and Jake Smeeton came in with Nathan Peprah-Annan earning a start up front in what is expected to be his final appearance for the side before being released. Ryan Moss’ ankle injury restricted him to the sidelines.

Striker Tom Clarke returned from Bognor Regis Town and took a place on the bench alongside Under-18s’ captain Danny Critchel, Havant & Waterlooville bound Wes Fogden and Helder Rodrigues, who is also expected to move on this week.

Eastleigh meanwhile, included former county town men Jamie Brown and Groves in their line-up.

It was crisis-hit Dorchester who registered the first meaningful attack of the game however.

Stewart’s long kick up field in the third minute fell invitingly for Nick Crittenden but, from an acute angle, the midfielder fired high and wide.

Play was rather scrappy for a while, with the poor state of the pitch not helping either side, and there were no further notable attempts at goal until the 24th minute when Peprah-Annan was unsuccessful in his attempted lob from 30 yards – a pass to Crittenden would have been the better option.

Despite not having a recognised striker on the field, Dorchester were looking the more threatening in attack and a low cross from Gary Bowles caused panic in the Spitfires’ penalty area but there was no one in black and white gambling on the opportunity.

Matters though, took a turn for the worse as the Magpies fell behind in cruel fashion. Eastleigh’s Riviere latched on to a loose ball before his 25-yard strike took a heavy deflection off Bowles, which wrong-footed Stewart.

And after a tedious 12-minute spell of minimal action, the visitors extended their advantage via Martin. Ex-Terra Tony Taggart’s left-wing corner found its way to an unmarked Martin who had the simple task of tapping home from three yards for his second goal in as many games.

The half-time interval did little to stop the tide as Eastleigh made it three just four minutes into the restart.

Jermyn conceded a needless corner, which was swung in by Ashley Carew, nodded back across goal by Martin for defensive partner Jordan who headed in from close-range.

Visiting substitute Brett Williams wasted the chance to extend Eastleigh’s lead even further when he fired wide from inside the box after being set up by Groves.

The former Dorchester striker, who netted 137 goals in 393 appearances for the club, would surely have netted a fourth had it not been for an excellent last-ditch tackle from Jermyn.

After Bowles had brought down Williams in the 68th minute, 20 yards from goal, the visitors won a free-kick in dangerous territory. Carew took the set-piece, sending a shot narrowly over Stewart’s crossbar.

At the other end, former Weymouth custodian Jason Matthews had to quick off his line to beat Peprah-Annan to Crittenden’s searching through pass.

But it was 4-0 to the Spitfires with 12 minutes left on the clock when Riviere rode the challenge of Jermyn inside the home penalty area before cutting back for Groves who guided the ball into the net with ease.

The game was now dead and buried, leaving the county town side to reflect on their heaviest home defeat of the season.

	MATCH STATS
4	TOTAL ATTEMPTS	8
2	ATTEMPTS ON TARGET	5
2	ATTEMPTS OFF TARGET	3
0	HIT WOODWORK	0
0	CORNERS	4
8	OFFSIDES	1
12	FREE-KICKS CONCEDED	16