BOSS Carl Poore admitted some of his players had been “intimidated” after witnessing Verwood Town suffer a heavy FA Vase defeat at AFC St Austell.

Potters were crushed 6-1 at Poltair Park with their hopes of making the last 32 for the first time all but dashed midway through a turbulent first half.

Tom Whelan had a goal disallowed early on after Carl Foster had been flagged offside and then the Cornish outfit put their foot on the pedal.

Liam Eddy (2) Lee Whetter and Dan Nancarrow put the South West Peninsula high-fliers 4-0 up at the break before Dan Lean headed a fifth after the resumption.

A well struck effort from Russell Dyer gave Verwood a consolation before Damon Mulready completed the rout.

Poore admitted St Austell fully deserved their victory and said the occasion had passed some of his players by.

He told the Daily Echo: “We started quite well and had a goal disallowed for offside but I don’t know if it would have made any difference to the result.

“About two minutes later they went up the other end and scored, which was another dubious offside decision.

“They dominated the game from then on and after 25 minutes we were 4-0 down and the game was effectively over. It was a case of keeping the score down.

“They controlled the game from start to finish and some of our lads didn’t come off the coach.

“Because they are a young squad I think a few of them got a bit intimidated and they weren’t up for the challenge.

“Technically I think they are very good but when it comes down to the physical side a few of them shied away and let themselves down.”

Poore insisted that progress to the Vase third round could aid his side in their Sydenhams Wessex Premier Division campaign.

Verwood are fourth-bottom of the standings and Poore added: “I think this run will help us in the league where we need to pick up some points.

“We have a few games in hand and if we win them then we will rocket up the table. We’ve got some big games coming up including against Poppies and Hamworthy, which we need to win.

“We are looking to add a couple of players for the Christmas period and then, hopefully, we can kick on.”

Potters: Lynch, Evans, Buck (Kimber, 75), McGilchrist, Kelly,Dyer, Foster, Whelan, Fisk (Satterley, 77), Groves, Rutten (Guthrie, h-t).