WIMBORNE Town boss Matty Holmes admitted Saturday’s dramatic 4-3 defeat at the hands of Evesham had been a “hard pill to swallow”.

Magpies had looked set to claim a big win at Cuthbury after racing into a three-goal lead before the hour mark thanks to a Toby Holmes hat-trick.

However, an action-packed last 20 minutes saw the visitors score four and the hosts reduced to 10 men. The loss made it two defeats in six days for Wimborne and saw them fall one place to fifth in Southern League West.

Matty Holmes said he had not seen the turnaround coming but was pleased with a number of positive performances.

He told the Daily Echo: “When you are 3-0 up and there is 20 minutes to go you feel you are going to get three points. But fair play to Evesham – it was a hard pill to swallow.

“It was difficult to take because of the nature of the past two defeats. Against Salisbury we played ever so well and got nothing out of a game where we deserved a minimum of a point against a really top side, who were favourites to go up at the start of the season.

“Then you play Evesham who are always a play-off side and you are 3-0 up against them with 20 minutes to go.”

Wimborne opened the scoring in the 12th minute, Toby Holmes netting from close range.

The striker doubled the lead soon after and completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot early in the second half.

Evesham threw caution to the wind and started the comeback in the 70th minute through Matt Liddiard. Just 17 minutes later, the Robins had the lead thanks to further efforts from Adam Mann (2) and Archie Haskayne.

Moments after the final goal was scored, Luke Holmes was sent off for a lunging tackle but Matty Holmes was unsure whether it was the right decision.

“It was never a two-footer, if anything he lunged in with one foot," he said.

“I’m going to look at the incident again but he’s not got that in him. He’s not an aggressive type of player. He is competitive but he is not the sort of player to two-foot people.”

Magpies travel to Yate Town on Saturday hoping to return to winning ways. And Holmes is remaining upbeat despite back-to-back defeats since the turn of the year.

He said: “It shows how well the boys have done this season to still remain in fifth position and compete with these teams. It’s part of my job to remain positive. I didn’t have a go at the boys after the game. A lot of managers possibly would have but I didn’t see the point. It was really disappointing we let in the four goals in 20 minutes but they are a quality side.

“We have got a young team who will, hopefully, learn from this and get better and better.”

Poole Town’s National South clash with Chippenham Town at the Black Gold Stadium was postponed.