Match Report: Dorchester Town 4-1 Exmouth Town

A depleted Exmouth Town were well beaten at the Avenue Stadium, losing 4-1 against a dominant Dorchester Town in the Southern League Division One South.

Exmouth started the brighter, but the hosts produced the first clear cut chance of the game, with captain Will Spetch heading onto the post in the 7th minute before Ross Edwards cleared heroically off the line from the rebounded effort.

The hosts had another massive chance just five minutes later when striker Ethan Taylor raced clean through on the counter attack, but his effort was well saved by the busy Matt Wonnacott in goal.

Town’s vulnerability on the counter attack was fully taken advantage of in the 15th minute, when Jayden Neilsen ran from inside his own half and cut in onto his left foot to fire past Wonnacott from the edge of the box with a sumptuous finish to give the hosts the lead.

The formula was a repeatable one and Neilsen almost doubled the hosts lead in the 25th minute on the break once more, striking just wide of the goal.

Town got some control of the game after this, but the hosts did come close once again from a set piece, with Spetch’s effort tipped onto the post by Wonnacott who was keeping Town in the game.

Town continued to grow into the game in the second half, but would have feared the worst when Joe Belsten clumsily dived in to try and stop a Dorchester counter attack but mistimed the tackle and received a deserved second yellow card.

The feared man disadvantage wouldn’t come to fruition however, due to an inexplicable overreaction by Dorchester right back Harvey-Joe Bertrand who threw Belsten to the floor and gave the referee no option but to dismiss him.

Initially, this provided Town the impetus to get right back into the game, and an equaliser came from a counter attack of their own. Wonnacott saved well from another Burrows one-on-one, and Town danced their way through the Dorchester defence, with Ethan Slater slotting home to level the game after being brilliantly set-up by Alex Cairo.

Town, perhaps buoyed by the equaliser, pushed for an unlikely winner. This left space at the back which the hosts took full advantage of when they got in behind Town down the left-hand side, resulting in the covering Slater bringing the attacker down for a blatant penalty. 

Ethan Taylor dispatched the penalty hard and low into the bottom right hand corner to restore the host’s lead.

This goal reopened the flood gates and despite more heroics from Wonnacott with his feet on this occasion, Burrows finally got his goal after some smart play released him down the left-hand side to finish emphatically to double the host’s lead.

Substitute Freddie Beale added a misery compiler in the 83rd minute to make it four slotting home smartly at the near-post to secure the host’s deserved win, which could have turned to five if not for the umpteenth brilliant save from Wonnacott to keep it respectable with the last action of the game.

Town host Dorchester’s table-topping rivals Weymouth FC on Wednesday at the Search 4 Local stadium as the tough fixtures continue to come thick and fast.