DORCHESTER Town boss Glenn Howes felt small margins went against the Magpies as they exited the Dorset Senior Cup semi-finals following a 2-0 defeat at rivals Weymouth.

Ahkeem Rose scored a goal in each half to knock Dorchester out, although Howes’ men saw Shaq Gwengwe blaze over their best chance in the first half.

Gwengwe saw a penalty appeal waved away and Harvey Bradbury poked a late chance wide as Dorchester departed the competition.

Speaking to Echosport, Howes felt Gwengwe should have had a spot-kick.

He said: “We felt Shaq was going to ground but when you get to the ball first before the defender, invariably it’s a penalty, in our opinion.

READ MORE: Weymouth 2-0 Dorchester Town - match report

“Margins, when you play good teams, they really count. We did feel one or two decisions didn’t really go our way. We just have to move on.”

On Gwengwe, Howes added: “Shaq’s been unwell, he managed to drag himself out of bed to go to work.

“He did a little bit on Sunday with Jordan (Ngalo) so to get 60 minutes out of him was really pleasing.

“His touch was a little bit too open which has resulted in him snatching at (his chance), but the fact he’s come through 60 minutes is a real plus for us.”

Howes also spoke of the difficulty of winning a trophy in football and how this chance passed Dorchester by.

“It’s so difficult to win a trophy at this level of football,” he said.

“When you think of the cup competitions available to you, you’re thinking FA Trophy, FA Cup, county cup and league cup.

“Before the game I wanted the boys to realise we have aspirations and expectations to be able to win things.

“It gave us that opportunity but it wasn’t to be. You have to move on and we’ve got a big game Saturday.

“The games in January are coming thick and fast, and that’s nice. We can go in (tomorrow), prepare well and hopefully get a good result Saturday.”

To compound a difficult evening, assistant James Wood was sent off for alleged foul and abusive language at half-time.

It means both Howes and Wood could face bans, Howes still waiting to hear the verdict after his red card at Hartley Wintney on Saturday.