Liam Brewer scores twice on first Baffins start as win at Bournemouth Poppies takes Rovers into Wessex League top six

The striker’s second half brace gave Rovers a 2-0 victory at Bournemouth Poppies and a place in the top six.

With Jason Parish nursing a quad injury, Brewer - top scorer for Baffins when they won the Hampshire Under-18 East Division title last season - partnered Kelvin Robinson up front at Victoria Park.

There was also a first Baffins start for former Moneyfields attacker Dec Seiden, who was deployed in the No 10 role after coming off the bench in last Tuesday’s 1-0 home loss to Fareham.

Rovers boss Danny Thompson elected to leave out Rob Evans, due to the fact he was starting a three-game ban on Tuesday.

Both Evans and Josh Rose - who is cup tied so cannot face Andover Town in Tuesday’s Wessex League Cup semi - turned out for Steve Ledger’s reserves in a 5-1 Hampshire Combination East win against Folland instead.

‘It’s a horrible place to go, the pitch was awful,’’ stated Thompson of Poppies’ surroundings. ‘It was just one of those where you go there, get the job done and get out of the place.’

Brewer was rewarded with a start after some decent sub appearances in recent weeks, while his four goals for the reserves against Liss the previous weekend can only have helped his case.

The former Havant & Waterlooville Academy striker opened the scoring with a header from a corner five minutes into the second half, and struck again around the hour mark.

Though Poppies are embroiled in a relegation battle, they had won their previous two home league games - against Portland and Fareham.

There was another forward boost for Thompson with the return of top scorer Tom Vincent as a second half sub.

The dual signed Winchester City striker was making his first appearance since undergoing facial surgery following an incident which saw him red carded against Bemerton in January. Due to his injuries, Vincent played with a face mask.

Evans, meanwhile, will also miss a league game against Cowes and a Hampshire Senior Cup quarter-final home tie with Aldershot on Tuesday, March 21.

Thompson will miss the county cup tie - which has been switched from north Hampshire to the PMC Stadium - as he is away. Assistant Matt Jones will take the team instead.

‘It’s a shame but I’d rather miss the Aldershot game than the Andover one,’ he commented.

‘No disrespect to our lads, but we’ve got a better chance of reaching the Wessex Cup final than the Hampshire Senior Cup final.’