WIMBORNE Town maintained the grasp on first place in the Southern League Division One South with a convincing 4-1 victory away at struggling Exmouth Town.

In form striker Jack Lovell continued his goalscoring run, finding an opener within five minutes, before Harry Morgan made it two on 18 minutes.

Exmouth pulled one back through Aaron Denny before the break, but Magpies restored their two-goal cushion seconds into the final 45, Lovell grabbing his brace.

Lewis Beale added further gloss to the scoreline when he rifled home a fourth in stoppage time.

Wimborne dominated the contest throughout, and made short work of the home side’s defence to open scores.

A neat passing move was ended by a tidy finish from Lovell, his eighth league strike of the campaign.

Jez Bedford saw a dangerous effort blocked by Exmouth’s Karl Riddell on 16 minutes later, but that was a warning of what was about to come.

Further intricate passing allowed Morgan the chance to double Wimborne’s lead.

But it would not be one way traffic for the Magpies, the home side pulling a goal back shortly before the half-hour mark.

Ethan Slater’s cut-back across the face of goal was squeezed past Ross Flitney in the Wimborne goal by Deeny.

However, that was as good as it got for Exmouth, their hopes of a comeback dashed shortly after the restart.

Bedford’s cross into the box was meat and drink for Lovell, who nodded home to stretch Wimborne’s lead back to two-goals.

The away side maintained their control of proceedings but lacked a killer edge – that was until substitute Beale tried his luck from range to score Wimborne’s fourth.

Magpies: Flitney; Hanger, Walker, Jackson, Scorey; Carmichael (Munn, 80), Morgan, Bedford (Baker, 87), Neale, Griffin (Beale, 67); Lovell.

Unused subs: Arnold.

  • Elsewhere, in the Southern Premier League South, Poole’s away trip to Gosport Borough was pre-emptively postponed on Friday.

The clash at Privett Park was meant to be staged on Saturday, but electrical issues caused by recent storm weather enforced the postponement on safety grounds.

A new date for the contest will be arranged in due course.