DORCHESTER Town Reserves’ boss claimed his side should have had the game won within 90 minutes in their Wyvern Challenge Cup quarter-final contest.

The Magpies were drawing 0-0 with Romsey Town going into a penalty shoot-out which they won 4-2, but manager Rich Robson said they made hard work of what could have been a routine win.

He said: “My thoughts are that we should have wrapped up the result before we got to penalties.

“We had them there, they were there for the taking. Our attack had six or seven golden chances to finish it and we’ve just not done it. They defended really well in the second half but we should have put the game to bed.

“I had to try and keep myself calm to see us through the penalties but the message after the game was that we can avoid situations like that if we finish the game off when we have chance.

“We’ve got some very good penalty takers in the side. It’s always a little bit to do with pot-luck in a shoot-out but I was chuffed we got the result in the end and that’s what matters.

“We’ve potentially got a difficult tie against Eastleigh in the next round but we just need to push on and hopefully we can reach the semi-finals.”

Despite his side’s wastefulness in attack, the Magpies’ boss did single out his defence for a superb display.

He said: “Our defence was great, Pete Taylor was an absolute rock at the back. I think they had one chance in the entire game.

“We haven’t conceded in the last three games and that is really pleasing.”

One sour note on the night was an injury to Josh Hills. The youngster has come on leaps and bounds this season after a series of whole-hearted performances, however, it looks like he could now be a long-term absentee for the Magpies.

Robson said: “It was a shame that Josh Hills picked up a bad injury. In defensive action he made an amazing block but damaged the cartilage in his knee in the process, so credit goes to him for keeping us in the tie.

“I’ve spoken to him and he might be out for the season which is a real shame because he’s really found his place in the team.”

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