A nice touch from local rivals Hamworthy United as they formed a guard of honour for Poole Town as they applauded the Wessex Premier League Champions onto the pitch at Tatnam to complete the incredible saga of five matches between the two clubs this season.

With the Championship already in the bag there was a danger that the Dolphins may take their foot off the pedal a bit for this game. However, with five games to go Poole are still unbeaten in the league and there is no doubt that manager Tom Killick will use this as the motivational spur to see the players through to the end of the season.

After the exertion of extra time in the Dorset Senior Cup Final six days before and the adrenaline rush of the VT game just two days previous there was a chance that Killick would ring wholesale changes for this game. As it was, just Brown and Culliford dropped to the bench with Cooke and Bailey-Pearce stepping up to the starting eleven.

Poole enjoyed the majority of early possession as Hamworthy looked to sit back and soak up the pressure. However, on 13 minutes a Poole corner from Hubbard (who was excellent in this game) was headed back across goal by Austin and Luke Whitley rose to thump home a terrific header into the top left corner of the net.

The stand-in keeper for Hamworthy Steve Shergood looked increasingly insecure as the half wore on. Time and again he came for crosses that he was never going to reach and on 19 minutes he flapped at another cross and Bailey-Pearce was on hand to loop a header back over him to double Poole's lead.

Certainly Poole played their best football in the first half. On 29 minutes Cooke turned his marker but his shot was pulled wide of the post. Within minutes another quality corner from Hubbard found the head of skipper Simon Browne but the ball just went the wrong side of the crossbar. Russell Cooke produced some neat skill on the wing on 40 minutes, turning his defender and crossing superbly for Bailey-Pearce but his header was straight at the keeper who made a point blank save.

The half ended on a sour note. Austin challenged Ollie Cherrett in the Hamworthy defence and the Hammer's skipper collapsed screaming at the contact. Unfortunately he has done the same thing in nearly every game the two sides have played this season and it comes across as a deliberate attempt to get a player booked. It worked. Austin received a yellow card and Cherrett was up and running about as soon as it was awarded.

Half time: 2-0

Hamworthy were a much better side in the second half and enjoyed a spell of good possession and showed some threat. Stuart Cannie looked pretty lively and Poole had their hands full keeping him in check. Hamworthy got a freekick just outside of the box on 47 minutes and rather surprisingly it was Cherrett who stepped forward to take it. With 90% of his game coming from the big hoof up field from the back it was little surprise that the ball ballooned miles over the bar and the ball came to rest in the stream at the side of Tatnam.

On 58 minutes Harvell conceded a corner and when Crowe got the ball into the box and it wasn't cleared, Stuart Cannie was on hand to fire home and give Hamworthy a sniff of a result.

Any hopes Hamworthy had were extinguished on 66 minutes with a brilliant goal. Simon Browne surged (yes, surged) forwards from the back beating two or three players en route. His eventual driven cross found Austin running into the near post and his sharp header saw the ball into the top corner before anyone else could move.

With the result now beyond doubt the substitutions followed for Poole. Sturgess made a welcome return from injury to replace Taffy Richardson and Steve Smith came on for goal scorer Austin. As the clock ticked on Andy Culliford replaced Bailey-Pearce and in the dying seconds of the game the ball dropped to Sturgess on the edge of the box and he fired home a trademark volley to record Poole's biggest win over Hamworthy United for many years and complete a very satisfying league double over the Hammers.