Cambridge city 4 Dorchester Town 2
THERE was no happy homecoming for Dorchester winger Matt Hann on Saturday.
Hann, 22, quit Cambridge City a year ago, joining the Magpies and starting a business studies course at university in Bournemouth.
But the lessons of this 4-2 loss at Milton Road will not be lost on the student and his team-mates.
Poor defending by Mark Morris' men led to two of the four goals scored by the home side.
"Everyone is really disappointed," Hann said. "We thought we could get a result up here. City played really well but I don't think we did ourselves justice."
Dorchester could have taken the lead in the fifth minute, but striker Matt Tubbs failed to profit when one-on-one with City keeper Martin Davies after a poor back pass by home skipper Lee Pluck.
With City's defence still reeling, Matt Holmes, ballooned a shot over the home crossbar, and Justin Keeler forced Davies into a one-handed save with an 18-yard daisycutter.
However, following that good opening spell, Dorchester's defence was caught napping in the 20th minute, when Rob Nightingale quickly tapped a corner to
Danny Bloomfield, took the return and crossed to the near post, where Pluck sent a glancing header past Magpies stopper Mark Ormerod.
The Dorset side were level within a minute, Martin Shepherd, unmarked in the penalty area, nodding the ball past Davies.
Both sides had a goal ruled out before the half-time whistle, Robbie Simpson and Tubbs the men penalised for straying offside when each thought they had scored.
Six minutes after the interval, the Magpies fell behind again, Pluck craning his neck to divert Rob Nightingale's free-kick beyond Ormerod.
There was no quick equaliser this time, and only four minutes had elapsed when Alex Browne's weak back pass was intercepted by Bloomfield and the striker went crashing to the floor under the keeper's challenge. Nightingale wrong-footed Ormerod, hammering home his spot-kick for 3-1.
Michael Walker's 66th-minute strike - the goal of the game - came after he danced past two defenders on the left flank and hit the top corner with a 25-yard rocket.
But when the Magpies looked set to salvage something, Browne was robbed by Tobi Jinadu out on the left wing and the City substitute raced towards the penalty area.
He looked up and, with a defender and the keeper to beat, sensibly squared the ball for Simpson who tucked it into the net from 10 yards.
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