After a heavy defeat to league leaders AFC Totton at the weekend, the Magpies travelled to North East Somerset hoping to get back to winning ways as the end of the season edged closer.

Wimborne made four changes to the side from the weekend, including a first start for Scott Arnold since picking up an injury on Boxing Day.

The start of the game was a tense affair in which no side had a sniff at goal until the 17th minute but it was well dealt with by the Wimborne backline. The first bookings of the night were made when Connor Cocklin and Larkhall’s Alamu-Tajudeen each picked up a yellow in the 22nd minute, this wouldn’t be the last we see of the cards! However, it was the Magpies who found a breakthrough when Lewis Beale found the net following a corner in virtually their first site of goal. With 5 minutes left of the half, Larkhall’s Casa-Grande was called into action to deny Lewis Beale of a second with a big save. With no further action to note, except a few yellow cards handed out, the Magpies went into the break with a narrow lead.

The second half started almost how the first ended. Lewis Beale came extremely close to a second once again as he was denied following a scramble in the box which was eventually dealt with by the Larkhall defence. Then the cards turned from yellow to red when Casa-Grande saw red moments before Scott Arnold received his marching orders with his second yellow of the evening in the 66th minute. On the 81st minute, the Magpies doubled their lead. With Casa-Grande dismissed 15 minutes prior, the replacement keeper misjudges a pass-back which nestles into the bottom corner to make it 2-0. The hosts then had a glimmer of hope when Larkhall’s Jack Camm halved the deficit with 5 minutes plus injury time left on the clock. Despite the late pressure, it was the Magpies who grabbed the next goal with Kaya Tshaka set Dan Bartlett through on goal and beat the keeper to make it 3-1!

The win means the Magpies remain in fourth but have increased their points tally up to 56 points, 7 clear of Bashley who currently sit just outside the play-off places. Next up for the Magpies, they welcome Bishops Cleeve to New Cuthbury on Saturday (8th April) at 3pm.