DORCHESTER TOWN 0 REDDITCH UNITED 1

A STUNNING long-range screamer from Ashley Sammons helped Redditch secure a league double over the Magpies and boost their chances of a place in the play-offs.

The United captain’s 29th-minute wonder strike gave his side a lead that they held on to for the rest of a largely forgettable Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division affair at the Avenue.

The hosts did create several opportunities to claim a share of the spoils but it never looked like being their day the longer the game went on.

Boss Mark Jermyn made one change to the Dorchester team from that which drew at Hitchin the previous Saturday.

With Nathan Walker suspended, new signing Lewis Horsburgh, who scored four goals for the reserves in midweek, came in for his first-team debut.

Craig Michie and Alex Godfrey were among the substitutes, replacing Shane Murphy and Kieran Parrett.

The hosts, with Jermyn in a midfield role, got off to a good start and Redditch keeper Sam Hornby had to be on his toes to keep out a curling effort from Dan Smith.

At the other end, George Carline, who scored in Redditch’s 3-0 defeat of the Magpies last December, had the visitors’ first chance when he flashed a left-foot volley just over the top.

Horsburgh, like strike partner Ben Watson, was dwarfed by Redditch centre-back Clayton McDonald, but he managed to find some space at the back post before failing to get any purchase on Bradley Tarbuck’s cross.

Tarbuck, Dorchester’s player of the month for February, was involved again when he twice linked up with Watson in the same move but the latter couldn’t get a decent contact on his team-mate’s through ball.

The contest was nearly half an hour old when the deadlock was broken – and how.

Picking the ball up around 35 yards from goal, United skipper Sammons let fly with a thunderbolt of a shot that Magpies’ keeper Alan Walker-Harris could do absolutely nothing about.

Dorchester’s best chance of equalising in what remained of the first half came five minutes prior to the interval.

It started with a mazy run by Tarbuck, the ball then broke to Smith and when he found Watson the centre forward produced a lovely turn to fire a shot on target which Hornby diverted for a corner.

Redditch did have claims for a penalty on the stroke of half-time but referee Mark Russell ruled that Chris Dillon could do nothing to prevent a Leigh Phillips cross hitting his hand.

Man mountain McDonald nearly grabbed a second for the visitors five minutes after the restart.

He got his head to a corner and would have scored had it not been for a goalline clearance by Sam Lanahan.

After that the game became very scrappy and the home side didn’t look like finding an equalising goal.

Watson saw a rather tame effort easily saved by Hornby on 69 minutes, while at the other end United substitute Luke Shearer forced Walker-Harris to parry a shot from close range – Simeon Maye skied the rebound over the bar.

Dorchester, who had already brought on Mark Irvine and Ryan Murray, were then forced into a third change when Jermyn hobbled off to be replaced by Jason Brookes.

With or without their player-manager, the Magpies rarely threatened Hornby in the Redditch goal.

The fluency and sharpness of recent weeks wasn’t quite there, and too often the quality in the final third was missing as well.

That said, for a side chasing a play-off place, the Reds were no great shakes on the day either, they just managed to hold on to a lead given to them by a first-half wonder goal.

Magpies: Walker-Harris, Oldring, Smeeton, Jermyn (Brookes 83), Dillon, Gleeson, Tarbuck, Lanahan (Murray 76), Watson, Horsburgh (Irvine 61), Smith. Subs not used: Michie, Godfrey.

Redditch: Hornby, Jones, Flanagan, Dinsley, Scarr, McDonald, Phillips (Hylton 80), Maye, Baker-Richardson (Shearer 58), Sammons, Carline. Subs not used: Caines, Spink, Bridgwater.

Bookings: Magpies – Lanahan (shirt pulling, 68), Smeeton (foul, 79)

Redditch – Scarr (foul, 81)

Referee: Mark Russell (Bristol)

Attendance: 411