BRIDPORT 5 TOTTON & ELING 0

BRIDPORT breezed into the second qualifying round of the FA Vase with a five-goal rout of Wessex League strugglers Totton & Eling at St Mary’s Field on Saturday.

The Bees booked a home clash against East Cowes Victoria Athletic in early October thanks to a Tom Richardson brace and further goals from Jamie Symes, Tristan Gale and Dan Wise.

It took a good half an hour for the tie to really come to life when a surging run by Matt Morley ended with Bridport team-mate Adam Symes being denied by a covering defender.

The hosts did go in front on 36 minutes and it was Adam’s brother Jamie who found the roof of the net from the edge of the Totton box – and one quickly became two a minute later.

Morley beat his man again and squared the ball back for Richardson to slot home from close range.

It wasn’t until the first minute of the second half that Bees’ keeper Jamie Fry had to make a save, and he didn’t have much to do after that either.

Richardson was in the mood to add to his earlier strike and he nearly doubled his tally with an acrobatic back-heeled volley that went just over the bar.

With 20 minutes to go the hosts made a triple substitution, bringing on Chris Senior, Rhys Hayter and Gale for Morley, Ryan Dovell and Adam Symes.

And the changes brought an instant reward. Hayter worked his way into the Totton box and, with his first touch, Gale buried the youngster’s cross.

Four minutes later it was 4-0 when a Wise corner was headed in by an unmarked Richard- son.

Gale and Hayter may well have got the home side’s fifth before the end – but that was left to Wise.

The midfielder received a pass from Chris Clarke and found the top corner with a superb left-foot curler.

Sean Stewart was rightly named man of the match after an all-action performance that showed his ability on the ball as well as his strength in the middle of the park.

“We looked a bit tentative in the first 25 minutes and weren’t crisp enough with our passes, our finishing, and our crosses into the box,” said Bees’ boss Trevor Senior.

“But then in the space of 60 seconds we had everything we wanted really. Fair play to the subs, they came on and were involved in the third goal with Tristan’s first touch.”

He added “I’ll settle for 5-0 and a clean sheet. You can’t do more than that really, you can only beat what is put in front of you.”

Bees: Fry, Filkins, Morley (Senior 70), Clarke, Stewart, Ry Hayter, A Symes (Gale 70), Wise, Richardson, Dovell (Rh Hayter 70), J Symes

Man of the match: Sean Stewart

Attendance: 112

Meanwhile, since Saturday's game Bridport have acquired the services of Poole Town striker Warren Byerley and the former Dorchester forward could feature at Gillingham on Tuesday if the paperwork goes through in time.