Swanage Town and Herston boss Jason Phillips is relieved he kept faith with Aaron Corby after the midfielder bagged a hat-trick to win Swans the Dorset Premier League Cup.

The Days Park outfit defeated Westland Sports 3-0 at Dorchester Town’s Avenue Stadium last Thursday to win their first trophy since 1991.

Corby put Swans in the driving seat from the penalty spot straight after half time, when Jamie Holland was felled by Westland keeper Ben Cochrane as he chased Mike White’s long ball.

Phillips’s side made it two after 55 minutes when Keith Middleton’s corner reached Corby, who bagged his second.

He then completed his hat-trick five minutes later after a free-kick, won by Holland, fell to him in the Westland box.

Despite Corby’s heroics in the county town, Phillips admits he nearly left him out of his starting XI.

He said: “I was going to put him on the bench because he got waylaid and let us down at Holt the Saturday before. But the longer the week went on, I knew I had to put my strongest team out.

“He didn’t let anyone down last Thursday. He was awesome. But Jamie Holland was our man of the match.

“That may sound absolutely stupid because Corby scored a hat-trick. But the penalty for his first goal came thanks to Jamie chasing lost causes and he got the corner that led to the second one.

“Aaron and Jamie were different class on the night. To be honest, though, the only person who had a quiet night was Nick Taylor in goal. They were all heroes.”

Phillips was also over the moon to see hundreds of Swans fans in the stands at the Avenue Stadium. He added: “I’ve never heard anything like it – it was fantastic. We had 200-300 people over supporting us and I’d say it was an 80/20 split in our favour.

“I didn’t realise until we scored and the roar went up how many people we had there.

“It was a fantastic night for the town. I was walking around Swanage on Friday and people were congratulating us that I didn’t even know liked football.

“It was absolutely awesome. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

Phillips’s side followed up their cup glory with a 2-1 triumph at Wincanton Town on Saturday afternoon, thanks to goals from the in-form Corby and Will Spetch.