BOSS Simon Browne revealed how Wimborne Town’s latest sluggish start had seen him receive a pre-Valentine’s Day ear bashing – from his own wife.

Magpies shipped a goal inside 60 seconds en route to a 3-0 defeat to Mangotsfield United in Southern South & West on Saturday.

Browne has been no stranger to early setbacks during his short stint at Cuthbury with his side conceding in the first 10 minutes in four of seven home league matches since his appointment.

“It’s not the way you want to start a game,” said Browne. “We have conceded quite a few early goals and it ruins your plans.

“There was a fair bit of huffing and a few expletives from the bench at that point.”

Asked whether he felt rival managers had seized upon the problem, Browne added: “I don’t doubt it for a second, it is what I would do.

“When you face a team that might be fragile, you get at them early because you never know what might happen.

“It has got to the point where my wife follows the matches on Twitter and the first thing she asks me is ‘what are you saying to them? Surely you must be doing something to sort that out’.

“If my wife is picking up on it, I am sure opposing managers are!”

The goal arrived in unfortunate circumstances as Tom Biles’s attempt to clear a ball into the box ricocheted off one of this own players and landed kindly for Ben Bament to slot home.

Bament then scored a penalty after a foul by Scott Arnold with Browne later admitting his skipper had been fortunate to remain on the pitch.

Wimborne kept battling and had a glimmer of hope when United’s Lewis Hogg was sent off in the second half but Liam Monelle made it three with five minutes to go.

Monelle had the chance to bag a brace from the penalty spot but on-loan Cherries keeper Pat O’Flaherty saved from 12 yards.

Browne’s plans were also disrupted by a delay in renewing the loans of Portsmouth youngsters Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kaleem Haitham and Brandon Joseph-Buadi.

“Mikey Harris (Pompey coach) said he would be happy for them to sign for the rest of the season back but they were having discussions with the academy manager about their futures," he added.

“I still don’t quite understand the reasons behind it but it was suggested to them that they should stay there for a while until they get their futures sorted.

“It is not dead in the water and they are doing us a favour so we will have to wait until the time is right.

“We were a bit disappointed because I had made plans on the Wednesday based on them being involved. It was not a problem, we still had 16 in the squad but it did change how we set up.”

Magpies: O’Flaherty, Randall, Johnson (Lupton, 81), Arnold, Biles, Maybury, Murray (Bayston, 61), Kellaway, Turner (Leonard, 67), Ford, Waters. Unused subs: O’Hare, Old.