JAMES Stokoe praised the defensive effort from Wimborne in "horrible" conditions as they saw off Blackfield & Langley 2-0 at Cuthbury.

A goal from Sam Poole against his former club set the Magpies on their way before substitute Antonio Diaz sealed the victory which sees the hosts leapfrog Blackfield up into 13th in Southern League South.

Speaking to Radio Wimborne, player-assistant coach Stokoe said: "It's brilliant for Pooley to score, especially against his former team. "That was probably our fourth corner that we got the goal from and we looked dangerous in every single one.

"We had two nearly free headers from the first two and then another chance before that goal. I think we won a header which was saved and from the resulting corner was the one Pooley scored from.

"We looked a real threat from set pieces and it worked really well."

He added: "Conditions were horrible, the wind was going one end to the other and I think the lads defended, headed, kicked everything they needed to and every point they needed to do it.

"We limited them, they didn't have many chances and it was fantastic - two goals, clean sheet, three points."

There was a minute's applause before kick-off in memory of Kevin Hart, head steward at Magpies who died on New Year's Day having collapsed at Cuthbury before the clash against Poole Town.

With the wind affecting proceedings, clear chances were few and far between but young goalkeeper Cameron Plain did have to make a smart stop to keep Blackfield at bay early on.

Sam Griffin was then denied by a Poole block, before the centre-back broke the deadlock at the other end, nodding a header in from a corner.

Tom Hanfrey was thwarted shortly after the restart with his 30-yard effort tipped over by fellow Cherries loanee Plain.

And that allowed the hosts to double their lead when Diaz, who had only recently replaced Sam Bayston, lashed in from the edge of the box.

Aidan Shepherd had a late chance to add a third but could not convert one-on-one, but two goals were enough for Magpies.

Magpies: Plain, Wells, Davidson, Poole, Byrne, Doe, Pettefer, Makhloufi, Bayston (Diaz, 58), Burbidge, Lee (Shepherd, 90).

Unused subs: Stokoe, Young, Wilson.