POOLE’S players might have answered Tom Killick’s prayers by crushing Dorset rivals Wimborne but the Dolphins boss admitted the derby storm had hardly reached biblical proportions.

Killick’s men scarcely moved out of cruise control in reaching the Dorset Senior Cup semi-finals, making light work of woeful Magpies in an all-too-familiar 3-0 success at Tatnam.

The tone was set when visiting keeper Jason Harvell was deceived by Dan Cann’s deflection on Carl Pettefer’s daisy-cutter in the seventh minute.

Despite Poole suffering a couple of hairy moments of their own making, it came as no surprise when Cann steered home Keith Emmerson’s centre two minutes before half-time.

Left-back Emmerson then latched on to a loose ball to fire an unstoppable rocket past Harvell less than a minute later.

The subdued Cuthbury outfit showed little fight after the restart and their nightmare evening was compounded by James Stokoe’s 63rd-minute dismissal for a frustrated two-footed lunge on Sam Clarke.

And while Killick praised his charges for getting the job done, he also revealed his dismay at the lack of purpose in Wimborne’s giant-killing bid.

Poole’s manager told the Daily Echo: “I thought they would make life more difficult for us. It was almost like David and Goliath but David didn’t have a catapult.

“I thought it was really one-sided and we pretty much dominated throughout. My only criticism was that we should have killed off the game earlier in the first half.

“We were so superior we almost lost a bit of focus. We should have won more convincingly but to see such a gulf between the sides was pleasing.

“We managed to win at a canter and I was surprised and disappointed the game didn’t have more of an edge.”

Asked whether he agreed with Killick’s assessment, Wimborne boss Steve Cuss said: “No. I’m happy with my players and they always give me 100 per cent.

"We have an honest group and we will work exceptionally hard to rectify our mistakes from the past two games.

“It was a convincing defeat, there’s no doubt about that. We made individual mistakes for the goals and it was difficult to come back from that at a place like Poole. Effectively, the game was over at half-time.”

Meanwhile, Cuss said he had “no complaints” over Stokoe’s red card, adding: “In the modern game if both of your feet leave the floor the player has to go.”

Dolphins: Thomas, Clarke, Emmerson, Dibba, Whisken (Elliott, h-t), Pettefer, Davies (Richardson, 72), Devlin, Brooks, Preston, Cann (Charles, 63). Unused subs: Byerley, Lowes.

Magpies: Harvell, Arnold, Costello (Maybury, 76), Wilson, Middleton, Blake, Webb (Davidson, 72), Sainsbury, Stokoe, Gamble, Kemble (Griffin, 72). Unused subs: Brian, Ackerman (g/k).