WIMBORNE Town boss Paul Arnold enjoyed some belated cup success with his Magpies side as they cantered to a comfortable 4-0 triumph at Devon League Cullompton Rangers.
Since his arrival at Cuthbury in 2002, Arnold has not enjoyed the greatest of records in knockout competitions, particularly the FA Cup and FA Vase.
They slipped out of both tournaments in disappointing fashion last term and exited the FA Cup in the preliminary round this time around.
But Magpies avoided a slide on Saturday's potential banana skin to safely progress to round two and earn themselves glowing praise from the manager.
Arnold said: "It was an excellent performance all round. The attitude was spot-on, we played some decent football on a superb surface and we scored some good goals.
"You go in to these games against these unknown quantities and don't know how much the other sides will raise their game.
"But it was comfortable in the end and that was due to the way we went about things. We spoke before the game about how we'd underachieved in the cups and it was nice to get off to a good start in this competition."
An early goal settled any Magpies nerves, Paul Roast getting across the goalkeeper to ram home a header from Marcus Oldbury's corner.
Leading scorer Gareth Barnes converted a penalty for number two after a clear handball in the area to put the visitors firmly in control by the interval.
Scott Arnold grabbed the goal of the game in the second period, a six-man move culminating in a one-two between Oldbury and Arnold, with Arnold powering home a drive from the edge of the box.
And substitute Warren Doyle wrapped things up with his second goal in as many games, beating the goalkeeper at his near post with a cross-cum-shot.
So with the first hurdle safely negotiated, Arnold can now enjoy the luxury of speculating on how far his side could go in the competition.
"It all depends on the luck of the draw really," he mused.
"The Wessex League has got to be one of the strongest leagues at this level and we had three sides in the quarter-finals last season.
"You would expect another good performance from our league's sides this time around and there's no reason why we couldn't be one of those teams."
Wimborne: Kearn, Plank, White, Roast, Coleman, Cooper (O'Connell 80), Arnold, Atkins (Kennedy 55), Oldbury, Cannie, Barnes (Doyle 60).
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