YOUTHFUL Poole Town reached the last eight of the Dorset Senior Cup with a routine 3-0 victory over Shaftesbury Town on Tuesday.

Manager Tom Killick fielded just three first-team regulars against the Dorset Premier League high-fliers but Dolphins still dominated possession from the off.

Toby Holmes had already seen a goal chalked off for offside when he was unceremoniously brought down in the box nine minutes before half-time. Steve Devlin despatched the spot-kick.

Devlin hit the upright six minutes after the interval before full-back Connor Doe bundled home his first senior goal for Poole just past the hour mark. Holmes rounded off matters with a quick finish 14 minutes from time.

In his post-match address, Killick was full of praise for both sides. "It was another evening where we played a young side and against more experienced opponents I thought they did well," he said. "There were a lot of good individual performances so it was a good night for us.

"To their credit, Shaftesbury were really industrious throughout. Despite us having a lot of possession, particularly in the first half, they stuck to their guns and didn't give up at any point."

Dolphins: Rees, Doe, Spetch, H White (Richardson, 57), Huston-Mendy (Glatzel, 69), Dickson, Salama (Leonard, 69), Devlin, J White, Davis, Holmes. Unused sub: James.