JAMES Stokoe believes Wimborne Town have a "realistic chance" of reaching the Dorset Senior Cup final, whoever they face in the last four.

Magpies progressed into the semi-finals after coming from behind to thump Shaftesbury 5-1 at Cuthbury with goals from Will Prior, Will Fletcher and Addwell Chipangura adding to a Luke Burbidge brace.

Wimborne will face either Dorchester Town, Verwood Town or Weymouth in the last four.

And player-assistant manager James Stokoe has his eyes on the trophy.

He told Radio Wimborne: "You'd like to get to a final and I think any one of those (ties) is a realistic chance of getting there.

"You'd imagine Weymouth would use it to look at players as well so there's a realistic chance whoever we get of getting to a final.

"It's another good opportunity for a trophy.

"Obviously you want to get to a final so looking at the teams left, you'd like to pick Verwood if you had to pick one.

"You'd see them as a league lower, the lower opposition out of the ones left so that gives you a more realistic chance of getting to the final and another couple of games we can get these development boys in to."

Danny Holmes used the contest to shuffle his pack with six homegrown players named in the squad.

Wessex Premier strugglers Shaftesbury made the stronger start, taking the lead in the 12th minute when Sam Herrington converted from the penalty spot after a foul by Ben Morgan on Baron Laney.

But Wimborne responded with Burbidge, captain for the night, twice going close before equalising after twisting and turning in the box.

Two minutes later, Magpies were in front as Prior headed home a Curtis Young cross.

Dan Card was a busy goalkeeper for the remainder of the half, but held firm to keep the lead to one-goal at half-time.

Holmes turned to his bench, introducing winger Chipangura for a debut and Wimborne quickly moved 3-1 up with Burbidge firing home from a tight angle.

Substitute Fletcher added a fourth before pacey Chipangura got in on the act, tapping home under pressure from a defender.

"He (Chipangura) came with us to Harrow the other week and was unfortunate not to get on that day," said Stokoe.

"He came on on Tuesday and did very well. He's frighteningly quick when he gets going.

"It's fantastic for the development boys to be involved. Obviously they've showed that they can play and have done well.

"We won't be frightened as and when we can get them in, to bring them in."

And Stokoe expects the youngsters to get more opportunities when the next round of the Dorset Senior Cup rolls around.

He said: "They're getting football against men, which they don't necessarily have in the development team, giving them confidence to be with us involved, scoring opportunities and playing well.

"All of them did really well on Tuesday."