DORCHESTER SPORTS 7

WAREHAM RANGERS 2

DORCHESTER Sports extended their club record of consecutive wins to 12 with a 7-2 thrashing of Wareham Rangers in Jewson Dorset Premier League action at the Avenue Stadium.

Despite the scoreline, Sports did not have this contest all their own way and twice went behind in the first half.

Wareham skipper Thomas White headed home from a corner before Sports equalised through a fine 20-yard Gareth Will strike, finding the top corner.

Undeterred, Wareham retook the lead when a mix-up in the Sports’ defence presented James Peters with a tap-in.

That was as good as Rangers’ afternoon got, however, as second-placed Sports leant on the accelerator.

READ MORE: Dorchester Sports 4-2 Blandford United - match report

Jamie Symes levelled soon afterwards and Will then turned provider for Bailey McNamara to head home for 3-2 on 30 minutes.

Symes was brought down for a penalty, the midfielder then stepping up and firing home before completing his hat-trick in cheeky style, chipping Wareham keeper Mike Davies for 5-2 at the break.

Sports were in hungry mood for goals and added two more in quick succession when McNamara grabbed his second and Liam O’Shaughnessy notched on his return from hand surgery,

With fully 30 minutes remaining, merciless Sports went in search of more goals but were frustrated by Davies who denied McNamara his hat-trick.

Alex Godfrey was twice kept at bay and Darren Watts was repelled as the excellent Davies kept the scoreline down.

Speaking to Echosport, James highlighted the character shown by his players to negotiate a tricky start to the game.

He said: “It took us 20, 25 minutes to get a grip of the game. Fair play to Wareham, they came out and gave it everything.

“Every time they went forward they looked like they were going to score. We had to be patient to get our noses in front.

“Once we went 3-2 up we didn’t really look back. We were superb and scored another four good goals. They didn’t get a sniff after half an hour.”

He added: “We had to dig deep, show a lot of character when we went behind twice.

“We weathered the storm and in the end it was a comfortable win. In the end it should’ve been double figures.”

Sports, who have applied for promotion to Step 6 for the 2022/23 season, now have a bye weekend but return to action at home to Bridport Reserves on Saturday, January 15 (2pm).

Sports: Hutchings, J Steele, O’Shaughnessy (Heal), Bessant, Hankin, Watts, McNamara, Symes, Crossin (Samways), Godfrey, G Will (Voss).