DAVID Barber - the FA's official historian - was kicking himself on Saturday after missing history in the making at Bournemouth Poppies' Victoria Park.

The statistician had been hoping to be among the crowd for Poppies' FA Vase clash with Wootton Bassett where Leigh Phillips netted a four-minute hat-trick in a 12-0 win for the hosts.

But despite watching Poppies' victory over Abingdon in the previous round, Barber opted against making a return visit at the weekend because his favourite Dorset hotel had no vacancies.

A keen follower of non-league, Barber revealed his liking for the area when contacted by the Daily Echo to ascertain whether Phillips's goalscoring feat would go down in the FA record books.

"I'm quite happy to say that it's the fastest hat-trick I've ever heard of in the FA Vase," said Barber, who has worked for the FA for the past 33 years. "I just wish I had been there to see it!

"I love Bournemouth as a place to go on holiday or for weekends and have seen lots of games at Poppies, Hamworthy, Poole, Christchurch and Bashley.

"I couldn't possibly have imagined that they would score 12 goals. It was the first result I looked for out of hundreds of Vase games this weekend. It was an astonishing scoreline.

"I was so close to going but ended up going to Sandhurst instead. I usually stay at the Saxonhurst Hotel in Boscombe but it was full up.

"I've been going there for at least 10 years and the guy who owns it is a football fanatic, particularly for Norwich City. He gives me a good rate and I hope he sees this article because I would hope to come down for the next round against Melksham!"

However, although Phillips scored six times for Poppies almost five years to the day since he bagged six in Lymington and New Milton's 11-1 Vase win over Wick, Barber said his haul will not be set in stone at Soho Square.

"Records in the FA Cup are easy to access due to its higher profile but because there are so many things in our other competitions that we don't get told about, there aren't any official records.

"We're always interested when something unusual happens in one of our competitions but I'm a bit wary to say it is definitely a record because we don't know for certain."