DORCHESTER Town maintained their good start to the season by securing maximum points and four goals at the expense of Hartley Wintney.

The Magpies almost went ahead in the first 30 seconds when a through ball from Matthew Neale sent Oliver Balmer through and only a timely challenge from Row’s Reese Jones saved the day. However the opening goal was only delayed by two minutes. A simple pass behind the Hartley defence found Olaf Koszela in acres of space on the left. The striker ran on and his initial parting shot from a difficult angle was parried by young Row keeper Killian Barrett and Matt Drage. However Koszela following up was able to stab the ball home from close range (1-0).

Hartley responded well and on six minutes a free kick from Harry Cooksley found the head of Aaron Goode who saw his effort pushed over by Magpies keeper Harrison Lee. A minute later the home side had a great chance to increase the lead. A through ball found Alfie Stanley clean through but the final shot went past the post.

End to end play continued and on nine minutes Cooksley and Youel Emmanuel combined well and the latter was unlucky to see his shot deflected wide.

After the frenetic start play settled down to a pattern. Hartley with most of the play and the Magpies looking dangerous with fast breaks from defence.

On 16 minutes after a period of intense pressure the Row pulled level.

Cooksley went on a run through the Magpies defence before being hauled down inside the area. Harry Cooksley took the kick himself and sent Lee the wrong way to equalize (1-1).

The Row had the bulk of the play with some good attacking enterprise.

However Dorch came closest on 30 minutes when a Balmer shot brought out a good save from Barrett.

Hartley dominated the early phase of the second half and came close on 51 minutes. A Cooksley corner found George Spiers who saw his header cleared off the line. Two minutes later an effort from Aaron McLeish – White took a deflection and went just over the crossbar. From the corner Kingsley Eshun headed just over.

Having survived a few scares it was perhaps inevitable that the Magpies would regain the lead on 54 minutes. A long ball into the Hartley area saw Koszela gain possession. The striker saw his initial effort blocked.

However he showed good composure to create an opening before shooting into the net (2-1).

On 60 minutes the Magpies put the match effectively out of the reach of the Row. The goal was totally gift wrapped by Hartley after a careless pass in midfield allowed Saquille Gwengwe to run from the half way line unchallenged and shoot past the outrushing Barrett (3-1).

On 63 minutes Cooksley was unlucky to see a shot deflected just wide for the Row. From the resulting corner the ball was cleared to Matt Drage who saw his shot from 25 yards tipped over by Lee. Jake Rumble made good progress down the left on 77 minutes and his cross found Tom Leggett who fired just over. The Row were out of luck on 81 minutes when after a period of sustained pressure a shot from Goode hit the inside of the post and came out. Almost immediately Dorch went to the opposite end of the pitch and added a fourth. A through pass from right midfield found Gwengwe behind the Row defence and he raced on unchallenged to shoot past Barrett (4-1).

Hartley made the score more respectable with a goal on 87 minutes.

Rumble crossed from the left and the ball was only half cleared to Harry Cooksley. The Row skipper side stepped a defender before shooting into the corner of the net (4-2).

In added time the Magpies managed to get beyond the Row defence and Barrett brought off a good save from a powerful effort by Jordan Ngalo.