With just two weeks left before Farnborough begin their assault on the BGB Southern Premier, Francis Vines’ side seem to be coming to the boil at just the right time.

Prior to Saturday’s clash with Blue Square South side Dorchester Town at Cherrywood Road, the Boro boss had said the game would be a good test of where his team are in their pre-season preparations. And, after dominating much of the 90 minutes against their higher league opposition, it was a test that Boro passed with flying colours.

Mark Gamble scored both the goals as Boro produced some purposeful attacking football to storm into a 2-0 lead, whilst at the back they were solid and organised to restrict the visitors to few chances at the other end.

There are still things to work on; not least showing a more ruthless streak in front of goal as they again missed some presentable openings to add to their lead. But Boro are looking in good shape, and after the game Vines was clearly pleased with his team’s effort.

“We did run out of steam late on, but overall I’m more than happy with that,” he said. “I thought in the first half we were exceptional and well worthy of our lead.

“We scored two great goals and should have had a couple more as well. We sprung out of defence with pace and they couldn’t really handle that.

“We were very solid and organised at the back as well, even though we missed a couple of centre-backs today. I would have liked to have kept a clean sheet, and was a little bit disappointed to let in that goal."

There was no doubting the star of the show, with Gamble’s second goal of the afternoon showing sublime touch and poise to round the goalkeeper and double Boro’s lead.

The flying frontman endured a tough first campaign with Boro last year, showing glimpses of potential but spending much of the title-winning season on the sidelines injured.

Even so, his pace and undoubted ability attracted some admiring glances from some big sides in the summer, and Boro moved swiftly to tie him down to a new two-year deal at Cherrywood Road.

Now, back at full fitness, Gamble has shown exactly what he is capable of, with three goals in his last two outings taking his tally to four for pre-season.

With Dave Woozley, Adam Doyle and Nick Burton all unavailable for Saturday’s game, Bisley’s Nathan Miles joined Luke Evans at centre- back. Chris Tardif was also missing, but despite recent speculation about his Boro future, Vines insisted the goalkeeper was only unavailable because of work commitments.

Michael Charles returned to the side from his recent ankle injury to partner Gamble up-front, with Leigh Rumbold continuing on the right of midfield.

Dorchester’s side boasted new signing and former Aldershot Town star Nick Crittenden, as Shaun Brooks fielded his first team line-up, but almost from the kick off Boro took the game to their opponents.

The visitors’ Ryan Moss brought the first save of the game from Boro’s Lyall Beazley, but the best opening early on fell to Charles, who opted to square the ball to Gamble when racing clear from Steve Laidler’s pass, rather than shoot himself.

There was concern for Charles once again when he went down from a heavy tackle by Nathaniel Peprah-Annan. The striker has been on the receiving end of more than one clumsy challenge this pre-season, but thankfully he escaped unharmed.

With Boro the more creative of the two sides, it was no real surprise to see them take the lead after 24 minutes. Rumbold just kept the ball in on the touchline, hooking the ball into the area and Gamble got in front of his man to head powerfully home the opening goal.

Gamble almost added to his tally just before the break, robbing Gary Bowles and shooting just wide, and Charles had the last action of the half, when he headed over Nic Ciardini’s cross despite being unmarked in the box.

Boro continued to press after the break and just after the hour mark did increase their advantage, when Beazley thumped a booming clearance up the field that caught out the Dorchester defence and Gamble nipped in. His first touch was sublime to bring the ball under control, and he calmly rounded the keeper and slotted home.

Clearly unhappy with his side’s efforts, Brooks made nine changes on 66 minutes, and his fringe players did respond by putting Boro under pressure as their legs began to tire.
On 73 minutes a slick pass found striker Leon Osei, and he made space in the box before wrong-footing Beazley with crisp low shot into the far left corner to bring his side back into the game.

Beazley was called into action again late on, making a smart stop from Mitchell Nicholson’s effort, but it was Boro who should have finished the game with another goal, when Laidler robbed Tom Mitchell and burst through. But instead of shooting himself he overhit a square pass to substitute Paul Harkness and the chance was lost.

Rob Saunders, Mark Richardson, Michael Barima, Connor Hamilton and Liam Pestle all remained unused substitutes, and Vines confirmed that all five would play against a Southend United XI tonight (Monday) at Cherrywood Road.

The League One outfit are expected to bring a mix of first team and reserve players for the game, which is Boro’s penultimate friendly before the season opener at home against Rugby Town. (kick off 7.45pm)

Boro: Beazley, Ray, Oliver, Miles, Evans, Rumbold, Ciardini (Massequoi 62 mins), Laidler, Scott, Gamble (Harkness 66), Charles (Wheeler 45).

For a full report and more of Vines' thoughts on the game, pick up a copy of Tuesday's Mail.