After the disappointment of the match being postponed on Saturday, Poole Town finally travelled towards Bristol to take on Brislington for the right to play Eastbourne United in the 3rd Round of this season's FA Vase.

A midweek game with that amount of travel, and therefore requirements to get out of work early etc usually sees some players being unavailable and also a reduced travelling support. It is to the credit of everyone that all fit players and a large travelling support made it to Brislington to keep the Wembley dream alive. There was a welcome return from injury for Lamin Dibba as he partnered Ross Lloyd in the centre of defence with Luke Whitley on the left side and Kevin Gill on the right. With Taffy Richardson still injured Aaron Skelton started alongside Hubbard in the heart of midfield and Russell Cook got the nod over Steve Smith up front.

For the last eight matches Poole have found themselves behind in a game and it was vital that they got off to a solid start and didn't concede early to face a mountain to climb. The omens were not great as Brislington forced the early pressure and had two corners in the opening couple of minutes. The second corner was met by a glancing header and with Jones beaten Gill was on the goal line to control and clear.

Despite the early scare Poole settled into the game and although the first half was not pretty Poole did well on the small, square, sloping and heavy pitch! There was a little bit of the long ball stuff from both sides as they weighed each other up but it was tactical changes from Killick that brought about the first goal. Preston and Trefor Smith swapped wings and on 19 minutes Preston cut in from the right side, beat a defender and fired an unstoppable shot from 25 yards which flew past the keeper to give the Dolphins the lead.

It was exactly what Poole needed and you could almost visibly see the confidence returning to the team. They continued to work hard in the first half knowing that a second goal would almost certainly prove decisive. Poole exerted huge amounts of pressure on the Brislington goal in the last ten minutes of the first half as they practically camped in the home side's half. Eventually the pressure paid off on the stroke of half time when a Hubbard corner was only partially cleared and Aaron Skelton thumped the ball into the top left corner from the edge of the penalty area - a great strike and his first goal this season.

Half time: 0-2.

The second half saw Poole return to the type of football they have played for much of the last few seasons. Tempo was good, passing and movement was more fluid and the back four looked solid. There is no doubt that Dibba's return is a major factor and his towering clearances give the defence time to regain their shape and composure.

In midfield Preston destroyed the Brislington right side in the second half as time and again he turned on the magic to beat players. Hubbard was his usual excellent self and Skelton too produced a top performance as he won the ball, broke up play and sprayed passes both left and right, long and short. Russell Cook too, seemed to explode into life in the second half as he held the ball up well and turned defenders time and again.

On 58 minutes Brislington went on a rare raid into the Poole half and a shot from the edge of the Poole box only just went over the bar. Poole broke quickly from the restart and a sweet move ended with a Stu Brown header being clawed away brilliantly for a corner. Three minutes later and the home keeper again pulled off a fine save as he tipped a long range Hubbard effort round the post.

Poole were not going to be denied however and it was another clever flick from Cook that sent Stu Brown racing clear. One on one with the keeper he made no mistake as he fired the ball low into the right hand corner.

Brown then picked up an injury and hobbled off to be replaced by Andy Culliford up front. With Poole in full flow the excellent Luke Whitley broke down the right and after a neat one-two he toe poked the ball past a defender before unleashing a great shot from a tight angle to complete four excellent goals.

Steve Smith and Dave Sturgess came on for Dibba and Skelton. Changes everywhere saw Whitley move to centre defence, Gill swap to left back and Hubbard drop to right back. Culliford moved back into midfield to allow Steve Smith to roam up front with Cook. The game was already won and Poole saw off the remaining minutes without incident.

An excellent performance from start to finish and arguably Poole's best game since they beat Bishop Sutton in the preceding round at the start of October. A long trip but worthwhile in every sense.