THIS latest instalment of the Dorset soap opera thickened the plot nicely.

Unfortunately, on this evidence at least, Eastenders Wimborne Town might have to wait a while before they square up to their noisy Neighbours again.

While the game was more like a dust up in the Queen Vic than a trot in the Australian surf, the result was telling.

Though Magpies boss Steve Cuss would rightly argue his, at times, impressive side are building for a future of prosperity, for the Dolphins, the delights of promotion are long overdue.

That is not to say Wimborne Town’s time will never come. In young players like Jamie Davidson, Matt Kemble, George Webb and Jordan Cole, Cuss is setting up the Cuthbury club’s future and those very players have already shown they can compete with Poole’s experienced heads by running out 3-0 winners in the Red Insure Cup.

But the wily old stagers in Tom Killick’s side should, barring a calamitous slide, see Poole safely into the Southern Premier Division.

The canny characters of Warren Byerley and Michael Charles were the difference in the Cuthbury cold.

And the writing was on the wall for the hosts as early as the 10th minute.

After Davidson had fired wide for the Magpies after just four minutes, Dan Ackerman was forced to save well from Carl Preston, before Micky Hubbard heroically cleared off the line moments later.

But after Preston had blazed wide, Byerley got in on the act.

The Dorchester man, on dual registration with the Dolphins, skewed an effort wide of the target after some neat inter-play with Preston, but made no mistake just a minute later when he put Poole 1-0 up with a well-taken effort from close range.

Byerley should have doubled his tally just after the quarter-hour mark, but again fluffed his lines after Lamin Dibba’s long ball out of defence had caught the Magpies back four napping.

Marvin Brooks was next to go close for the visitors when his towering header flew inches wide of the upright, but Cuss’s side, to their credit, finished the first half brightly, although clear-cut openings were hard to come by.

Although the hosts continued to exert themselves after the restart, with Davidson going close, Byerley was on hand to slot home from close range again just after the hour after Luke Burbidge had earlier hit the post.

Charles, a menace all afternoon, then missed a gilt-edged chance to make it 3-0 after linking well with Byerley in the build-up, before the Dolphins defence cleared a goalmouth scramble with Nick Hutchings under pressure from former Tatnam man Steve Smith.

Hutchings, though, was on hand to save well from Aidan Sainsbury as Poole weathered a late storm.

Magpies: Ackerman, Arnold, Cole, Costello, Peprah-Annan, Blake, Davidson, Hubbard, Kemble (Jeffes, 70), Smith, Webb (Sainsbury, 60). Unused subs: Roast, Maybury, Gill.

Dolphins: Hutchings, Clarke, Spetch, Dibba, Brooks (Baines, 54), Burbidge, Howes, Devlin, Preston, Byerley, Charles. Unused subs: S Brown, Kelly, Richardson, T Brown.