Western League opposition again for Poole Town as Barnstaple Town made the trip to Tatnam to fight for a place in the First Qualifying Round. Stuart Brown returned to the squad after his holiday but took a place on the bench as Cook and Austin continued their partnership up front.

Poole Town produced one of those devastating halves of football that occurred many times last season and this game was over well before half time. The Dolphins were simply irresistible in the first half as they romped to a five goal lead at the break.

On 9 minutes a Poole corner eluded everyone at the near post and when the ball dropped to Taffy Richardson his shot fired in but Charlie Austin was unable to get out of the way and the chance went begging. A minute later though and Poole took the lead. Barnstaple had been on the break themselves but when the play broke down Poole countered very well. Dibba snuffed out the danger and eventually Cook received the ball. He cut inside and fired home with his left foot to continue his fine scoring form.

Poole were now firmly in charge and the good football flowed through everyone. A fine move saw Dibba, Preston and Sturgess involved before Pete Smith raced through and his fierce shot was saved low down by the Barnstaple keeper.

On 27 minutes Taffy played a great ball through and Cook raced down the left. He looked up, saw no support so knocked the ball out short to Preston. By this time Austin was racing into the box and when Preston delivered to the back post Austin headed home to complete a fantastic move.

Good football again from Poole on 32 minutes when Taffy's excellent first touch took him past the last defenders and he raced in on goal. The keeper was up to the task however and saved Richardson's shot well. Minutes later Carl Poore broke through the midfield (that's how good Poole were playing!!) and he slid the ball through to Austin. The keeper managed to take the sting off the shot and a defender finally cleared it off the line.

With half time approaching Poole produced a devastating six or seven minutes to score three more times and end the tie. On 42 minutes Hubbard produced a brilliant freekick into the box, curling in towards the keeper at an angle that was always going to cause the defence problems. After a couple of deflections the ball bounced up and Dibba thumped home a header to score his first for the season. Three minutes later Cook had a fine shot parried only for Preston to nip in and finish from close range and two minutes after that Austin raced clear despite looking offside and he coolly slotted his second of the game.

Half time: 5-0.

Steve Smith and Ross Lloyd replaced Russell Cook and Lamin Dibba at half time but and it looked as though nothing had changed as Poole got their sixth after just three minutes of the restart. Sturgess broke through the middle and was fouled but the referee waved play on. He eventually played the ball to Steve Smith who took a touch and then curled the ball round the keeper into the top right corner - a superb strike.

As often happens when the game is won it is so difficult to maintain the pressure and tempo for the full match. Poole now seemed to go a little to sleep and the lively Paxton fired home for Barnstaple to make it 6-1 on 55 minutes. Shortly afterwards Pete Smith took a blow and he had to be replaced by Stuart Brown with Poole going three at the back with Preston and Hubbard as wing backs. It was not an entirely comfortable situation and the defensive changes showed as Barnstaple now started coming forward and looking dangerous.

However, it was Poole who scored next with perhaps the goal of the game. Lloyd played a terrific ball out wide to Hubbard whose first touch with his head sent him racing away down the right wing. His first time cross was perfect to the back post and Austin raced in to volley the ball first time to secure his hat-trick.

More sloppy play from Poole saw Barnstaple come back into it and they created two very good chances before a cross into the Poole box was headed home to make it 7-2. They had other good chances during the second half as well and could have had four or five themselves.

Poole still looked dangerous on the break however and on 78 minutes Steve Smith did all the hard work, receiving the ball and turning his marked well before firing high and wide over the bar. He also had another fine effort tipped away for a corner.

A very good win for Poole and they will now travel to Willand or Falmouth in two weeks time (they played out a 1-1 draw today).