POOLE TOWN 4

Ross 37 og, Lee 66, Daws 68, T Holmes 76

WEYMOUTH 0

POOLE Town retained the Dorset Senior Cup with an emphatic 4-0 victory over rivals Weymouth at the BlackGold Stadium.

The Dolphins were rarely troubled by a youthful Weymouth but it took 37 minutes for them to break the deadlock thanks to an unfortunate own goal by debutant Dylan Ross.

Three goals in ten second-half minutes then sealed the silverware as sub Tony Lee, man-of-the-match Marcus Daws and Toby Holmes all netted.

Weymouth were aiming for their 26th Senior Cup win but with league survival their priority made ten changes to the side that began the 1-0 loss to Cheshunt on Saturday.

Zaki Oualah, Archie Procter, Scott Rees, Matt Buse, Ben Thomson, Hari McCoy and Keelan O'Connell all came in.

READ MORE: Poole Town 4-0 Weymouth - how it happened

Three under-23 defenders made their debuts as Liam O'Shaughnessy started, as did Dylan Ross and Callum Corbridge.

There were five under-23 players on the bench as Elliot Rossiter, Jordan Wakefield, Ali Hachem, Emmanuel Frempong and Charlie Pitt all made the dugout.

Weymouth rested 12 players in all as Tom Blair, Tom Bearwish, Harry Kyprianou, Ahkeem Rose, Brad Ash, Gerard Benfield, Nathan Carlyle, Teddy Howe, Brendan Willson, David Sesay and Xander McBurnie all got the evening off.

Max Hemmings, an unused sub on Saturday, also played no part.

Poole began the stronger, Jake Andrews thumping a hopeful effort well wide from 30 yards but Weymouth responded when O’Connell dragged wide.

Two successive corners then put pressure on a youthful Weymouth defence but the Terras closed out the opening as former Weymouth centre-back Ade Olumuyiwa hooked wide with his back to goal.

Poole were quick to pounce on any Weymouth error and a heavy touch from O’Shaughnessy sparked the Dolphins’ next move, Corby Moore drilling just wide from 18 yards.

Former Portland United defender Harry Hutchinson flicked away a dangerous low O’Connell cross as Weymouth briefly threatened but Poole were straight on the attack as Marcus Daws blasted wide.

Claims for handball against Ross were waved away, prior to Weymouth’s Harvey Slade seeing a shot blocked by the eager Poole defence.

For all their good play, Poole had not forced Oualah into a save of note but there was nothing the keeper could do about the Dolphins’ opener.

Daws escaped to the byline and his cross was shanked towards his own goal by Procter, with Ross unable to clear after getting the ball stuck under his feet.

Thomson was then removed for Rossiter in a planned substitution immediately after the goal.

Poole made a change of their own at the break, handing 45 minutes to Will Spetch at the expense of skipper Jamie Whisken.

Ross somewhat redeemed himself with an excellent tackle to deny Holmes ten minutes after the restart and Weymouth began to grow in confidence.

O’Connell and Slade combined to win a corner that fell nicely for Corbridge, only for the centre-back to snatch at a difficult volleyed chance.

Prior to the corner, Lee was introduced and it only took the ex-Terras man three minutes to score as he clinically converted his first chance of the game.

His goal began a run of three strikes in ten minutes as the Dolphins killed off the tie.

Weymouth handed a debut to Jordan Wakefield at the expense of Rees prior to the second goal but instead it was Poole who had the greater impact as they made it 3-0.

Daws, impressive all night, danced infield from the right and powered a sweet left-footed strike into the bottom-right corner on 68 minutes.

Weymouth gave another debut to Hachem, relieving O’Shaughnessy, but the Terras could not live with Daws as his lightning-fast feet conjured a good chance for Pardoe who blazed over.

Pardoe atoned for his miss by creating Poole’s fourth on 76 minutes, slipping Toby Holmes through.

The ex-Dorchester striker rounded Oualah and showed excellent composure to check back and widen the target before finishing low into the centre portion of the net.

Poole’s home fans vociferously cheered on the Dolphins and even taunted Weymouth about a possible relegation as the hosts closed out victory without alarm.

Weymouth are next in action at home to Eastbourne Borough on Saturday (3pm).

Poole: Butler, D Rose, Hutchinson, Whisken (Spetch 46), Olumuyiwa, Moore, Andrews (Lee 63), T Holmes, Pardoe (Reeks 78), L Holmes, Daws. Subs not used: Foden, McMonagle.

Terras: Oualah, Ross, Corbridge, Procter, O'Shaughnessy (Hachem 69), Rees (Wakefield 65), Buse, Slade, H McCoy, Thomson (Rossiter 38), O'Connell. Subs not used: Pitt, Frempong.

Referee: Nat Wormleighton.

Attendance: 567.