A headed goal in each half by leading marksmen Will Fletcher.and Cam Munn gave Wimborne victory in this battle of two towns with identical league records.

Not surprisingly, manager Tim Sills stayed with the same starting line-up who had played so well when knocking Tiverton out of the FA Cup a week ago.

With the steady rain giving the ball a zip across the lush turf, the game burst into life from the first whistle. Matt Neale opened proceedings by stinging keeper Clarke’s hands from twenty yards, while at the housing estate end left-winger Bancroft fired narrowly wide after collecting a perfectly weighted through ball. In the visitors’ next attack, Josh Carmichael sprinted back to make a superb sliding tackle to deny the speedy Bancroft another opportunity. Matty Burrows free-kick from the left was met at the far post by Sam Jackson but his header had little power to bother the keeper. Then, on nine minutes, Wimborne took the lead. Harvey Wright found Jez Bedford wide on the right with a diagonal Scott Arnold would have been proud of. The winger dribbled this way and that as three defenders tried, and failed, to stop him. His dinked cross was met in the middle of the goal by Fletcher who gleefully headed home from a yard.

On the quarter-hour mark, Bedford’s jinking run discombobulated more defenders, and set up Burrows for a low shot from the edge of the area which Clarke saved low down by the post. It was a crucial save, as in the next minute Hungerford equalised. Danger man Bancroft raced onto Berry-Hargreaves’ defence-splitting pass down the inside-left channel and coolly slid the ball past the advancing Ross Flitney. It was entertaining, end-to-end fare: Cam Munn headed another Bedford cross over the bar; Watts’ optimistic free-kick from thirty-five yards worried the watching pigeons more than Flitney; and Wright sent his grubber of a shot over the greasy ground wide of the post from an even longer distance.

Disappointingly, the last twenty minutes of the half was rather scrappy with little goalmouth action. Watts forced Flitney into a save at the near post, and the big stopper caught a corner under pressure. With rain continuing to fall, both teams wasted no time in retreating to the dressing-rooms at half-time.

The second-half also started brightly. Ben Scorey ended a slick move down the right wing with a cross, before Flitney had to tip the ball over his bar after a cross from the right led to ten seconds of pin-ball in front of him. Bedford continued to torment his defenders as he twisted and twirled with the ball seemingly tied to his boot-laces. On the hour mark, Burrows was chopped down as he dribbled across the penalty area. He took the free-kick himself from the top of the “D” only for the diving Clarke to get a touch to send the ball crashing against the bar. Pressure from The Magpies was building: Fletcher’s stretch from Bedford’s pass almost diverted the ball past the keeper; Munn headed Bedford’s cross over.

Then, on sixty-six minutes, the hosts regained the lead. Carmichael’s driven cross from wide on the right was headed just inside the far post by Munn from twelve yards. In their next attack, Burrows won a corner on the left which Jackson headed over.

Now it was Hungerford who exerted pressure. Substitute Harry Morgan half-cleared a corner; Fletcher banged the ball away; Sam Roberts stood strong and stopped a speeding attacker; Bedford was on defensive duty with a sliding tackle; Roberts bravely blocked a shot; and Billy Walker blocked their next two efforts. But Wimborne kept looking for a third: Morgan’s close-range shot from Wright’s header was blocked; Roberts drove down the right to cross for Fletcher; and a scintillating cross-field move ended with Joe Ryan’s cross from the by-line.

As the clock ticked-over into five additional minutes, Harry Baker chased and made two tackles in midfield, and Neale book-ended the game with a shot which Clarke did well to save.

Hungerford were just four points away from a play-off spot last season, so this was a good bench-mark for Tim’s team who, to a man, played really well. Roberts and Wright were solid in defence; Carmichael was immense and Neale non-stop in midfield; Fletcher gave his all for the cause; and Bedford lit up a gloomy afternoon. The win lifts us to tenth in the table.

Wimborne: Flitney, Scorey, Roberts, Wright, Jackson, Carmichael (Walker 84), Neale, Bedford (Baker 78), Burrows (Ryan 78), Munn (Morgan 70), Fletcher (Cocklin 90+3) 

Attendance: 596

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