It didn’t help that the visitors lost keeper Mac Chisholm through what looked like a muscle injury to his stomach just before the break, with Bognor opting to put flying winger Lennie Smith, 17, in goal after the break.

That said, Smith — who has played between the sticks on occasion for the U18s — actually performed well against the Southern League Premier South outfit and he even managed to save a penalty kick in the second half.

The home side showed their intent as early as the seventh minute when they rattled the post before the all-action Smith had the next best chance of the game as he sped clear but, with only the keeper to beat, the then-attacker lobbed his effort over the bar.

Wimborne took the lead on 29 minutes through Will Fletcher and doubled their lead ten minutes later thanks to Lewis Williams’ strike. Then Simba Mlambo somehow squeezed his effort home from the left and pulled the visitors back to 2-1 on 47 minutes.

Joe Smith added two more goals in a second half the home side dominated – they did the first in fairness — to hand the hosts a comfortable win at the Wyatt Homes Stadium in front of 346 fans.

Howell said of the encounter: “It was a disappointing result; the injury to our keeper certainly didn’t help. I didn’t think we were great today and maybe we put a lot of pressure on the younger players (by playing them). But it is more minutes in the bank.

“But I think we need to strengthen if we possibly can and that is something that Birmy and I will be trying to do in the next couple of weeks to help the squad that we have got.”

Rocks are next in action on Tuesday, July 29, when we travel to Weymouth for a pre-season friendly, kick-off 7.45pm.