LEWES 5 Dorchester TOWN 0

ASHLEY VICKERS rang the changes but his revamped side were overrun by a Lewes team hungry for points in their battle for survival.

Dorchester boss Vickers made six changes from the team that lost 2-0 at Eastleigh in midweek but he could not prevent a third successive defeat.

The Magpies were behind after eight minutes and never in this contest as Lewes won 5-0 to move out of the relegation zone.

Having secured their own survival a fortnight earlier, Vickers waskeen to give players on the fringes of the starting XI a chance to stake their claim.

James Coutts was busy in midfield and Ollie Barnes fairly solid at the back but few players came out of this with much credit.

The deadlock was broken in the eighth minute when Scott Brice was adjudged to have brought down James Fraser as he burst into the penalty area.

Brice protested his innocence but the referee was having none of it and Joe Keehan tucked away the penalty.

The Rooks had the bit between their teeth and heaped the pressure on the Magpies with Keehan seeing a goalbound header blocked at the expense of the corner, Steven Brinkhurst shooting wide on the turn and top scorer Keehan drilling wide from 20 yards.

The visitors were forced into a change after 28 minutes when Kyle Critchell limped off with what looked like a recurrence of his knee injury and that prompted a switch to three at the back.

However, they rarely troubled Lewes. It took them 23 minutes to have an attempt at goal – a header well wide from Ryan Moss – and only created one other opportunity in the first half, a header from Brice which was slightly more worrying for the hosts.

Instead, Lewes doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time when Rob Gradwell delivered a cross from the right which Keehan met with a glancing header into the far corner with Regan Coward rooted to the spot.

The game was effectively killed off within 10 minutes of the restart, although not before Sami El-Abd had a headed effort disallowed for a foul on Coward on 47 minutes.

The third goal did arrive on 53 minutes when Gradwell fired home at the third attempt following an exhilarating run from Lewes’ teenage winger David Wheeler.

Two minutes later Chris Breach looped a header over Coward to make it 4-0.

Vickers, who had made a second change in the first half when he threw on Jamie Gleeson for Harry Nodwell, played his final card 19 minutes from time when he introduced Matt Groves, who helped Lewes to the Blue Square South title two years ago.

Groves added some energy to the attack but the Magpies were on a damage limitation exercise and they could not prevent a fifth goal three minutes from time when Fraser lifted the ball forward for substitute Jean-Michel Sigere to chase before lobbing Coward as he came out.

It was a day to forget for Dorchester but at least Vickers was able to answer questions he had over some of his squad.

Lewes: Banks, Barness, Breach, El-Abd, Hamilton, Wheeler (Louis 76), Fraser, Walder, Brinkhurst, Keehan (Peaurouc 69), Gradwell (Sigere 76). Subs not used: Manning, Crellin.

Dorchester: Coward, Critchell (Walker 28), Brice, Barnes, K Hill, Crittenden, Nodwell (Gleeson 39), Coutts, Martin, Moss, Byerley (Groves 71). Subs not used: Llewellyn, Devlin.