Bradbury hoping Rose has banished Westleigh Park curse

The Hawks celebrate as Jordan Rose netted against Dorking. Picture: Ian Hargreaves

It was a great relief for the manager as his side beat Dorking Wanderers 3-1 in their FA Trophy third qualifying round tie.

Rose, back in the team because Ed Harris was suspended, struck twice in the second half to see off the challenge from the Ryman League premier division visitors.

Bradbury admitted it wasn’t a great team performance but the main thing is to be in Monday’s draw.

He said: ‘Hopefully that hoodoo of not winning at home has gone and everybody will stop talking about it now.

‘We haven’t played great but it is job done. We won the game which was the most important thing.

‘In the first half we went with three centre forwards and failed to make the most of that.

‘They played four in midfield against our two and won a lot of the second balls.

‘Dorking sat in and looked to hit us on the counter-attack. It was something they did quite well and they picked us off at times.’

The Hawks fell behind after 16 minutes when they allowed Matt Briggs, a Pompey target in the summer, the freedom of the park.

Briggs ran three quarters of the length of the pitch and squared the ball across to give Giuseppe Sole an easy tap-in goal.

‘We should have taken a foul on the half-way line but we didn’t make the tackle,’ said Bradbury.

‘Their lad has a lot of good pace and that is why a lot of league clubs are looking at him.

‘But we let him run with the ball and it results in an simple goal for them.

‘It was poor defending from us.’

The Hawks were presented with a 26th-minute equaliser when Dorking goalkeeper Slalomer Huk fouled Matt Tubbs and Jason Prior made no mistake from the spot.

Early in the second half substitute Wes Fogden’s cross from the right was headed on and Rose scored.

Rose struck again on 62 minutes rising highest at a corner to guide his header into the far corner.

‘The penalty got us back on the front foot,’ said Bradbury.

‘Then Jordan Rose showed what a threat he can be at set-pieces.

Bognor forced a 1-1 draw at Hemel Hempstead in a thrilling FA Trophy encounter.

The two teams will meet again in a replay at Nyewood Lane on Tuesday night (7.45pm).

Bognor fell behind after only seven minutes but a dominant second-half performance saw them grab a deserved equaliser.

On 65 minutes a Ben Swallow corner created chaos in the home area and Ibra Sekajja scored from close-range in a goalmouth melee.