DORCHESTER TOWN 5

Bradbury 44, Neale 52, 61, Balmer 75, Stanley 87

SHERBORNE TOWN 2

Brown 69, Cornish 84

DORCHESTER Town safely progressed to the Dorset Senior Cup semi-finals with a comfortable 5-2 win over Sherborne Town at the Avenue Stadium.

Against opposition ranked two divisions lower, Glenn Howes’ men ensured there would be no repeat of the scares against Bridport in the last round, where they squeezed through 4-2 after extra-time.

In near freezing temperatures, Dorchester took a while to get going but their quality eventually shone as Harvey Bradbury buried his first Magpies goal from Shaq Gwengwe’s cross.

Matty Neale added two beauties in the second half, curling home inside the area and then netting a deft left-footed volley for 3-0.

READ MORE: Dorchester Town 1-3 Chesham United - match report

But the spirited Sherborne, forced to field a run-down squad due to injuries, came back with a Matty Brown thunderbolt off the bar from 35 yards.

Sub Olly Balmer made it 4-1 from 12 yards but ex-Bridport star Dec Cornish bagged his own long-range effort to give Sherborne a deserved second.

However, as the Zebras chased an improbable draw to force extra-time, spaces were left wide open and Alfie Stanley capitalised to complete the scoring from close range.

Speaking post-match, first-team coach Brian Churchill said: “It turned into a very similar game to Bridport.

“Sherborne were camped in the first half, trying to get to half-time still in the game. Without that one-goal lead it was looking like a difficult second half.

“Patience, concentration was the key and a little tweak at half-time to drop Alfie in behind Bradders seemed to pay dividends. We could open them up a little more and score the goals we needed to.

“It was vital just before half-time. Our dominance earned that goal. Possession-wise it was probably 80-20 or something like that.”

On Bradbury’s first goal for the club, Churchill added: “We kept moving the ball, got in down the sides. A great cross from Shaq and Bradders got across the front post.

“Great for him to score his first goal. We’ve had a look at his stats and we’re surprised he hadn’t netted.

“He gives us such a different dimension to our team. All our strikers are slightly different and he’s going to play a vital role.”

Dorchester travel to Pitching In Southern League Premier South bottom side North Leigh on Saturday (3pm).

Magpies: Hall, Bertrand, Slough, Foot (Sa 67), Emmerson, Moyse (Turner 67), Neale, Toms, Bradbury, Stanley, Gwengwe (Balmer 67). Sub not used: Douglas.