LYMINGTON Town are set to lose dual-signed Gosport Borough striker Jack Odam to Dorchester Town.

But it was another Borough ‘loanee’ Sam Roberts who scored twice in Town’s 3-1 victory over title hopefuls Blackfield & Langley on Saturday.

Trailing to a Jake Rowley goal, Lymington hit back through a Luke Ansell header five minutes later to go in 1-1 at half-time at Southampton Road.

Roberts did the rest, scoring twice in the second half – much to the frustration of a Blackfield side who were reduced to nine men with Michael Durdey shown a straight red at 2-1 and Nick Tayler given a second yellow at 3-1.

“Sam was a young lad at Salisbury last year and played for me on loan at Bashley,” said Lymington boss John Pyatt. “He’s not known for his goals, but he was playing out wide or even at full-back before, whereas now he’s an attacking central midfielder.

“Him and Brad Strickland are a good combination in the middle and give us plenty of energy.”

Odam will be missed, having scored ten goals in 17 Wessex games for Town this season, but Pyatt is happy for him to “give it a go” with Dorchester in the Southern Premier.

“He proved at Bashley last season that he can more than handle himself at that level and it’s good for him,” he said. “He’ll play for us when Dorchester are in the FA Cup.”

Blackfield are down to sixth, seven points off title pace, and manager John Robson couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“Lymington well deserved to beat us, we were awful from start to finish,” he said. “Apart from the goalkeeper, only two or three players escaped criticism – Ekow Elliott, Jake Rowley and Danny Young. The rest were less than average.

“They thought it would be easy after Lymington had just lost 5-0 to Horndean and my job now is to get that attitude out of them and get the winning mentality back.”

Defender Joey Byrne was on the bench on Saturday following shoulder problems, but Robson resisted the temptation to put him on.

“The pitch was hard and if Joey had fallen badly, he might have been out for months. He’s vital to us, he really is,” said the boss.

Byrne could well start at home to Verwood Town tonight, but Sean Thurgood (groin strain) is out and Richard Jackson remains injured.

Lymington have lodged seven days’ notice of approach for Blackfield striker/wideman Manny Soetan who recently rejoined the Watersiders following a spell in Australia. He played for Pyatt at Bashley last term.