BOSS Matty Holmes insisted Wimborne would “take it on the chin and quickly move on” after they had been sucker-punched in the FA Cup.

Toby Holmes’s strike three minutes from time had looked destined to settle in their favour their first qualifying round clash against Dorchester at The KoolPak Stadium yesterday.

But the visitors, who played the final 30 minutes with 10 men following the dismissal of Tom Blair, earned a replay thanks to Callum Rose’s leveller deep in stoppage-time.

Toby Holmes drew first blood against his former club when he slotted the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Kingsley Latham, who is on loan from Southampton.

But a final twist saw Gerard Benfield misjudge a free-kick, allowing Rose to loop a header over the stranded Wimborne goalkeeper to take the tie back to the Avenue Stadium on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Manager Holmes told the Daily Echo: “The boys were excellent and I could not have asked any more of them. They did everything we had wanted and worked very hard.

“The first half was a tight affair and both teams had chances. We defended well but I thought we dominated the second half.

“We scored what we thought would be the winner. It was a good finish to beat their goalkeeper who was excellent all game. We finally got through him.

“Going into injury-time, you think you have done enough. We had a couple of free-kicks quite high up the pitch and were trying to run down the clock.

“For some reason, we gave away a free-kick inside their half and they put a decent ball into the danger area.

“Gerard came for it, which we want our goalkeeper to do, but just missed it and their lad nipped to head it into an empty goal.

“I was really disappointed for the lads. Dorchester beat us 4-2 in the league last month and this was a much-improved performance, which was so pleasing.

“I feel we are improving and the more games we play at this level and tempo, the better we are going to be.

“In a strange way, it is nice to have a replay because we can get another game under our belts at this level which will stand us in good stead as the season progresses.”

Wimborne: Benfield, Tallack (Penny, 82), Maybury, Davidson, Arnold, Kellaway, Stokoe (Francis, 90), Young, T Holmes, Burbidge, Lovell. Unused subs: Owen, Shepard, L Holmes, Walsh (g/k).