Poole Town striker Steve Smith helped himself to a hat-trick in their 4-1 home triumph over Bishop Sutton.

But it wasn’t his goals, or Russell Cook’s, that were the main talking point after Dolphins had booked their place in the Vase second round proper.

It was the dismissals of the rugged, ill-disciplined Western Premier outfit’s outfielder Sam Bailey and goalkeeper Chris Blammon.

Poole manager Tom Killick said: “We’re no angels. I’m not saying we’re whiter than white, but they were brutal.

“We weren’t getting involved in any of that. It was a bit unsavoury, but in the football sense, it was always a relatively comfortable win.”

Bailey saw red just before half time after allegedly punching and trying to head-butt Mickey Hubbard, while Blammon, who had already saved a penalty from Smith, was sent off late on for a foul inside the box after which the striker completed his hat-trick from the spot.

Killick said: “We got knocked out in the first round last year. It was a real low point of our season.

“It’s a big relief to get over the first hurdle and we’ll just have to hope for a kind draw in the next round.”

Poole Town: Ackerman, Poore, Whitley, Dibba, P Smith (Lloyd 83), Preston, Hubbard, Richardson (S Browne 75), Gill, Cook (S Brown 70), S Smith. Unused subs: T Smith, Skelton.

Verwood boss Adie Arnold admitted he feels a bit like Forrest Gump after saying: “I just don’t know what I’m going to get from my players game to game.”

Gump was Tom Hanks’s lead character in the 1994 Hollywood blockbuster whose famous line in the film was: “My momma always said ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get’.”

That’s exactly how Arnold feels following his side’s 3-0 defeat at Western League Division One leaders Wells City in the FA Vase second qualifying round.

Arnold, whose team conceded three goals in the first half, said: “What’s frustrating me as manager is our inconsistency – I don’t know what I’m going to get from game to game.

“We played so well in beating Romsey 3-2 in the Wessex Cup last Wednesday and I was hoping to take that into the Wells game.

“I think my players will look back on this and feel it was probably a golden opportunity they didn’t take which they should have.

“Wells weren’t anywhere near as good as Romsey, so it’s frustrating.”

Verwood: Fawcett, Elysee, Lynch, Jamison, Murray (Anderton 50), Homer, Arnold, Faulkner, Dyer, Evans, Matt Newbury (Lima 60). Unused sub: Mark Newbury.