STALWART James Stokoe said Wimborne Town’s 3-0 Southern League South home defeat to Tiverton Town “flattered” the visitors – but insisted Magpies had to take their chances.

Stokoe, who is now a player-coach at Cuthbury, saw the hosts fall to the league leaders thanks to a River Allen double, as well as a goal for Noah Smerdon.

He told the Daily Echo: “A 3-0 scoreline flattered them but we have to take our chances in order to get a positive result.

“We agreed in the dressing room that it wasn’t a fair reflection of the game.

“Early on we had a one-on-one and then Sam Bayston had a half chance with the ball behind him – he just couldn’t get enough on it.

“If those chances had gone our way, we could have at least been a goal, maybe two goals up.”

Connor Doe made way for Stefan Penny as manager Danny Holmes made just the one change from last weekend’s defeat to Merthyr.

Despite a bright start that saw Bayston almost acrobatically turn the ball home in a crowded box, Magpies were slowly put under pressure.

League leaders Tiverton demonstrated the attacking prowess that had seen them score 34 goals in just 12 league games.

The visitors finally converted their grip of the contest into a goal when captain Allen sent a fine strike past Cameron Plain in the 33rd minute.

In a reserved second half, Tiverton frustrated the hosts to a few chances on the break, with the action not heating up until the final 15 minutes.

Magpies were unlucky to not restore parity when Bayston came tantalisingly close to tucking home a loose ball across the face of goal.

Wimborne went even nearer to an equaliser when Sam Poole’s header rattled the crossbar.

But with the Magpies pouring forward in search of a leveller, Tiverton picked off the home side on the counter via Smerdon and a deflected Allen strike.

Wimborne sit 12th in the table ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Farnborough.

“Obviously there were some big changes over summer,” Stokoe added.

“We’ve gotten through that and started to put together a few results and had a good run on the bounce

“We are now back in a position where things are falling for us. We aren’t taking our chances as well as we were, but we have to work hard to get back on track.”

Magpies: Plain, Penny (Hester, h-t), Maybury, Byrne, Poole, Pettefer, Bayston, Clarke, Lee (Roberts, h-t), Burbidge, Young (Doe, 61). Unused Subs: Stokoe, Davidson.