Ben Dickenson
DORCHESTER TOWN
1	Alan Walker-Harris
2	Kyle Critchell
3	Jake Smeeton
4	Mark Jermyn
5	Nathan Walker
6	Jamie Gleeson
7	Nick Crittenden
8	Ashley Nicholls		50
9	Ryan Moss		79
10	Ben Dickenson
11	Neil Martin		50
Substitutes
12	Jamie Symes		50
14	Steve Devlin		50
15	Ryan Dovell		79
16	Harrison Bell
17	Nic Jones
GOSPORT BOROUGH
1	Nathan Ashmore
2	Gavin Jones
3	Dan Wooden		42
4	Brett Poate
5	Lee Molyneaux
6	James Ford
7	George Way
8	Nathan Kirby
9	Ross Langworthy		81
10	Justin Bennett
11	Adam Wilde
Substitutes
12	Ellis Martin		42
14	Dan Woodward		81
15	Callum Laycock
16	Steve Claridge
17	Alex Hards
REFEREE
Adam Bromley (Plymouth)

Saturday 26th November 2011
		Dorchester Town	1
		Dickenson 71
		Gosport Borough	2
		Way 25, Bennett 48

Magpies crash out to Gosport

by Ky Capel

Caretaker-boss Phil Simkin tasted defeat for the first time as Dorchester Town were dumped out of the FA Trophy by lower-league Gosport Borough.

The Magpies went into the third qualifying round tie as overwhelming favourites, given the two-tier difference between the two teams, but it was the Evo-Stik Division One S&W side who came out on top at the Avenue Stadium, claiming the £4,000 prize thanks to goals from George Way and Justin Bennett.

The county town outfit were handed a lifeline courtesy of teenage forward Ben Dickenson but hopes of salvaging a replay at the very least were eventually extinguished.

Simkin, who had led the Magpies on a six-match unbeaten run prior to the game, admitted his men were distinctly off-colour but remained gracious in defeat.

He said: “It’s a massive disappointment and a very poor performance from us. Despite numerous warnings that we were playing a team two divisions below us and so we needed to get our heads right, some of them didn’t.

“We conceded two absolutely awful goals, we sat too deep in the first half, we gave them too much room in midfield and they were picking up the second balls.

“In the second half, I thought after scoring we looked better but they have some experienced players and people forget that although they may not be able to play at our level every week, they are quite capable of doing it for one game and that game was today.

“They fully deserved their victory and we can have no excuses. Compared to our performances in recent weeks that was very poor.”

With Ryan Moss and Kyle Critchell fit to feature, the Magpies made two changes to the side that held high-flying Sutton the previous week.

Making way were Rico Wilson and Gary Bowles – the former joining Wimborne Town on a one-month spell and the latter returning to parent club AFC Bourne-mouth on a full-time basis, even though he is ineligible to play for the first team until January.

New signing Nic Jones was named among the substitutes.

For the visitors, former Wey-mouth player-boss Steve Claridge was only fit enough to take a place on the bench.

The early exchanges were evenly contested with the higher-ranked hosts restricted to a Dickenson strike that easily cleared Nathan Ashmore’s crossbar.

In fact, Dorchester were struggling to find any sort of rhythm and Borough sniffed an upset.

The Hampshire outfit grew in confidence as the half progressed and Alan Walker-Harris was the first of the two keepers to be forced into action.

Jake Smeeton lost possession, the visitors surged forward and Ben-nett drove in a shot that the home gloveman parried for a corner.

Just two minutes later, Borough were handed the best chance thus far, which they gratefully accepted.

Way was played clean through and after taking a touch, the visiting winger found the corner.

Having conceded for the first time in 322 minutes, the Magpies looked for an immediate response.

A Neil Martin cross was almost turned into the net by a Gosport defender, Nick Crittenden shot wide on his left foot and Moss nodded the wrong side of the left-hand post from a deep cross.

The closest the hosts came to an equaliser was in the penultimate minute of the half. A scuffed clearance, from Crittenden’s corner, fell straight to Moss six yards out but his instinctive effort was hacked away on the line by Gavin Jones.

There was still time for Ashmore to thwart Dickenson from close range as the Magpies ended a low-key half in the ascendancy.

But within three minutes of the restart, Gosport were two goals to the good as Bennett headed home at the near post.

Simkin responded by making a double change, bringing on Jamie Symes and Steve Devlin for Ashley Nicholls and Neil Martin.

The Blue Square Bet South outfit now faced an Everest-like challenge and although Moss connected with Dickenson’s 55th-minute corner, Dorchester’s leading marksman was unable to keep his header down.

In truth it was Gosport who looked the more likely to add to the scoreline, with Crittenden heading off the line from Bennett and Walker-Harris getting a firm hand on Ross Langworthy’s fierce strike.

Dorchester retaliated and thought they had halved the deficit when Dickenson met Devlin’s deep delivery. However, Ashmore was equal to it and even managed to hold on to the ball mid-flight.

The Magpies’ number 10 was not to be denied and he gave the home side hope with 19 minutes left on the clock, collecting Crittenden’s cut-back before finding the roof of the net with a thunderous drive.

With their last throw of the dice, Ryan Dovell entered the fray and he almost contributed to a leveller as his cross was met by fellow sub Symes and saved at the near post by Ashmore.

Time was quickly running out, even with the somewhat generous addition of five minutes’ injury-time, but there was to be one final chance for the desperate hosts.

A long ball forward was cushioned by Dovell into the path of Dickenson 20 yards out. But with the ball falling on his weaker right foot, the ex-Christchurch man could only blaze over the top.

	MATCH STATS
14	TOTAL ATTEMPTS	9
6	ATTEMPTS ON TARGET	6
8	ATTEMPTS OFF TARGET	3
0	HIT WOODWORK	0
10	CORNERS	6
0	OFFSIDES	2
9	FREE-KICKS CONCEDED	5