MAGPIES 1

REDDITCH UNITED 5

DORCHESTER Town equalled their heaviest defeat of the season as Redditch United ran riot to beat the Magpies 5-1 in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division.

Nathan Walker opened the scoring for the hosts as some fans were still finding their seats when he tapped in from close range in the first minute.

But that was the only thing the home fans had to cheer about as Redditch levelled through a Neil Martin own goal in the 18th minute, before Luke Shearer put them ahead a minute later.

The Reds added a third four minutes into the second half through Sam Merson.

They bagged two more in the second period through George Carline and William Richards to cap off a miserable afternoon at the office for the Magpies.

Mark Jermyn made two changes to the hosts’ side that drew 1-1 with Paulton Rovers last weekend. Toby Holmes replaced Jason Brookes and Luke Holmes came in for the Magpies’ top scorer Charlie Davis.

Walker did get the hosts off to the perfect start as with the first attack of the game, Toby Holmes got in behind a sleeping defence to find the striker who couldn’t miss.

After the early goal, the Reds started to find their feet and they were level 17 minutes later.

Merson’s corner didn’t clear the first man, but it didn’t need to, as Martin miscued his volleyed clearance into the net past a helpless Walker-Harris.

Some of the blame could be pinned on the goalkeeper for the visitor’s second goal just a minute later.

 Walker-Harris came out to collect the ball from a cross but didn’t reach it, allowing Shearer to head into an empty net.

After they took the lead, Redditch continued to pressurise the Magpies’ goal.

Walker-Harris saved well from Ashley Sammons’ free-kick and Carline blazed over from eight yards as the first half came to a close.

The second period started in a contrasting style to the first, as Redditch added their third goal in the 49th minute.

After good interplay from Carline, Shearer and Eli Bako, Simeon Maye’s shot was well saved by Walker-Harris but the rebound fell to Merson who made no mistake.

Dorchester now had a mountain to climb and they brought on Charlie Davis and Ben Watson on to try and revive their hopes of salvaging something from the game.

Their task got even harder two minutes later as Carline added a fourth just after the hour mark after Merson had done all the hard work.

The afternoon worsened for the home side as another Walker-Harris save was parried into the path of Richards who scored with 12 minutes to go to round off the rout.

The result leaves the Magpies without a home win since February but keeps the visitors in the title tussle.

Magpies: Walker-Harris, Hanger (B Walker, 68), Martin, Jermyn (Davis, 60), Lander, Dillon, L Holmes, Clarke, N Walker, T Holmes, Tarbuck (B Watson, 60). Subs not used: Brookes, Proffitt.

Attendance: 378