Whitchurch United 1 Bournemouth Poppies 2

IF LADY luck had turned up on Saturday at Longmeadow, there is no doubt Whitchurch would have won this game.

Instead, two injury-time goals in the first half proved their undoing in this Jewson Wessex League division one encounter.

For long periods, the home side dominated a match where a draw would have moved them off the bottom of the table.

They also had two good shouts for penalties turned down in the second half when they looked to fight their way back into the contest.

Manager Derek Smalley said: "I can't fault the performance of my guys today. We had two crazy minutes in the first half which cost us two goals. But I still felt we could get something out of the game in the second half."

He added: "I don't like criticising officials but I thought they did not help us today as I felt we should have had at least one penalty in the second half."

Whitchurch had the better of the early exchanges. Pascal Suntah forced Adie Briscoe to panic and send a ball across the penalty area, which Chris Iddles then put wide after 23 minutes.

That woke up the visitors and, soon after, Whitchurch goal-keeper Dave Smalley was forced to make his first save - from James Ansell.

The home side responded with James Scrivens and Suntah going close. Whitchurch's best chance of the half fell to Paul Roffey on 44 minutes but he headed just wide from a Suntah cross.

A minute later, Smalley produced a great save to deny Kisan Chengado as he drove from 35 yards.

As the first-half clock moved on to 47 minutes, the visitors broke the deadlock. Chengado found space on the left and his shot was pushed away by Smalley but only as far as Lewis Till, who scored.

If that was rough justice for Whitchurch's first-half performance, worse was to follow two minutes later as Till turned provider for Mark Dancer to score.

After the break, Whitchurch turned on the passion and Suntah found Rees but the ball did not come down for him. In the confusion in the penalty area, it looked to be pushed away by the hand of a Bournemouth defender.

The penalty appeals were ignored but, a minute later, as Rees was looking to get on the end of an Iddles through-ball, he was sent flying by Colin Dand in the box.

Again the penalty appeals were turned down as Rees needed treatment in the penalty area.

Soon after, George Pitts forced a Kyle Roberjot save from 20 yards. The home side had their only let-off in the half on the hour when Sammy Bryning fired over from a good position.

Whitchurch finally got their reward on 67 minutes. Pitts' header, from a Scrivens free-kick, was cleared only as far as Sean Maye, who rose to head over a defender and 'keeper into the net.

Two minutes later, a Roffey pass into the area from the right saw Roberjot forced to push the ball on to the post.

The home side, looking for an equaliser, had further chances from Gary Shaughnessy, Roffey and Scrivens but it was not to be their day.

They will hope for better luck next week when Cowes Sports are the visitors.

Whitchurch: Smalley, Maye, Ambrose, Roffey, Morris, Shaughnessy, Iddles, Scrivens, Suntah, Pitts, Rees. Subs (not used): Attridge, Hack, Williams.

Bournemouth: Roberjot, Dand (sub Beverley 64min), Briscoe, Coleman, Bryning, Collins (sub Chengadu 20min), Smith, Lucas, Dancer, Antell, Till (sub Phillpots 71min).