PLAYER-boss Henry Simpson celebrated in style after Poole Borough had ended their dismal 12-match losing streak with victory at Raleigh Grove.

Goals from Darrell Williams, Lee Thomas, Shane Barney and Jake Firth saw the Hornets climb off the foot of the table.

A second league win of the campaign came on the back of narrow defeats by Merley Cobham Sports and Weymouth reserves.

And Simpson, who came off the bench in the 85th minute and promptly knocked a free-kick straight out of play, treated himself to a night out in Southampton.

“I had a nice dinner with my wife before we went to a comedy club,” said Simpson. “We’ve had 12 weeks of comedy at Poole Borough so I thought I would have another laugh on Saturday night!”

He added: “The lads were outstanding. We had a few players out again and three came in for their first games. One of them, Darrell Williams, scored the first goal and Tom Sonner, who is only 18, was excellent at centre-back. I think him and Toby Williams could strike up a good partnership.

“We felt this had been coming, especially after our past two games when we lost by the odd goal to both Cobham and Weymouth. Everything just came together on Saturday.

“Hopefully this can be the turning point in our season. It has given us something to build on and we can start to move forward, climb the table and get out of the relegation places.”

Simpson also had words of praise for debutant midfielder Jamie Minett, who was sent off in the closing stages for a deliberate handball on the goal line. “He was tremendous on the right-hand side of midfield,” added Simpson. “He was very unfortunate to get sent off and their player-manager went in the same incident.

“He wasn’t happy because his header had clearly crossed the line before Jamie hooked it back and he felt the referee should have given the goal.

“In my opinion, the referee should have awarded the goal because the ball was well over the line and then nobody would have been sent off.”

Hornets: Heyward, G Williams, Collins, Sonner, T Williams (Simpson, 85), Minett, D Williams, Firth (Flowers, 79), Squires, Barney, Thomas.