RELIEVED boss Ollie Cherrett admitted Christchurch had been put through the wringer by FA Vase minnows Swanage Town & Herston.

Joe Clarke’s 18-yard looping header gave the Dorset Premier League outfit a shock half-time lead at Hurn Bridge but prolific hotshot Luke Stone turned the tide with a brace, the second coming five minutes from time, in a 2-1 victory.

Cherrett told the Daily Echo: “It is hard when you’re playing one of the lowest-ranked sides. On social media, I saw people saying we would score four or five but it doesn’t work like that.

“They brought a good following and it was a big day out for them. I have to take my hat off to them because they were superb and represented their league extremely well.

“We started quite sloppily and were put under a lot of pressure. They stopped us playing in the first half and took the lead with an unbelievable header.

“They probably deserved it. There were a few home truths at half-time and fair play to the lads, they executed the game plan from there.

“There was only going to be one winner once we had equalised, it was just a matter of whether we could break them down and young Finn Lowe played a lovely ball through for Stoner to get the winner.

“He knocked it past the keeper but it was in slow motion. I’m not sure the ball even reached the net but we’ll take it.

“They might have warranted a draw but we just did enough.”