Stur took on their local rivals Blandford United at Churchill Close and ran out easy winners in the most one sided footballing contest I have witnessed since I watched Titus Bramble trying to mark Alessandro del Piero in a Champions League fixture at St James Park.

Joe Wood had already rattled the Blandford crossbar before Dan Manuel opened the scoring after 23 minutes. Five minutes later it was 10 aside after Stur goalkeeper Doug Shear whacked a Blandford forward with his handbag and the Blandford forward returned the compliment. Both players were dismissed. Steve Johnston was sacrificed to allow sub keeper Andy Talbot to enter the fray for Stur. The home side seemed to cope with the reduction in numbers better than Blandford and were straight back into their stride whilst the visitors, a bit like Demi Moore after she had her first baby, completely lost their shape. After 32 minutes, Aaron Stacey hit a deep cross into the Blandford area and Sam Goodwin hammered a header past ex Stur keeper Alex Dickinson. Manuel made it three after 37 minutes and good work from Wood set up Goodwin for his second, and Stur's fourth, five minutes before half time.

HT: 4-0

Manuel completed his hat trick when he picked up the ball in the inside left position and turned inside his marker before curling a shot round Dickinson and into the bottom corner. Goodwin thought he had matched his strike partner when he had the ball in the net after 54 minutes, but his effort was ruled out for offside. Stur were not to be denied for long though, and made it six when Luke Geddes got onto the end of a superb cross from Williams and thumped a header into the net.

My pen had run out of ink by this time, so I'm relying on memory for the 7th but I think Geddes was involved again when he hammered the ball across the face of the Blandford goal. A Blandford defender did manage to get his toe to the ball, but all he could do was turn it past his own keeper.

If any of the large crowd had paid to get in, which they hadn’t, but if they had they would certainly have had their monies worth tonight. Here’s hoping that we have converted a few to the joys of  watching local football and that we see a few returning to Churchill Close throughout the season.