A DOMINANT second-half performance saw Basingstoke Town ease into the third round of the competition they won last year.

An emphatic 5-0 victory over visitors Gosport Borough in the Hampshire Senior Cup on Tuesday night, means Terry Brown’s side are one step closer to regaining their crown.

Four goals from man of the match Jack McKnight and one for Dan Collier made easy work of a lacklustre Borough side, who had recently parted ways with long-standing manager Alex Pike.

A much-changed Dragons side could have been in front after three minutes, when a neat flick from McKnight set Collier free on the edge of the box, but the midfielder could only drag his shot wide.

The opening encounters were scrappy, with Town slightly edging the possession stats, but the visitors were nearly gifted an unlikely lead after Alfie Lis took advantage of Collier’s slip and the Gosport man forced Aaron Holt to tip the ball over on 25 minutes.

Two minutes later McKnight had his first of the evening when Matthew Cafer in the Borough goal could only parry Sam Deadfield’s shot into the path of the oncoming striker to fire into an empty net.

Gosport looked for an instant reply through the lively Ousman Saidy, whose drilled cross/ shot again called Holt into action.

At the start of the second half Brown made a double change bringing on Will Shaw and Jordan Goater, which completely changed the dynamic of the game.

The changes made an instant impact on 50 minutes when Shaw’s cross caused havoc in the box when three Town players should have extended the lead, but the ball was forced out for a corner.

From the resulting flag-kick McKnight doubled his and Town’s lead.

The hosts were pushing for a third and McKnight duly obliged after neat footwork from Deadfield and substitute Sam Smart cut the ball back to the striker to calmly complete his hat-trick.

Collier then put the nail in the Gosport’s coffin when he was left completely unmarked for a free header to make it 4-0 with five minutes remaining.

Town finished off the scoring spree with basically the last kick of the game, when the two goal scores linked nicely to walk their way through the Gosport defence before McKnight put the icing on the cake with his fourth and Town’s fifth.

The Dragons will travel to Hitchin on Saturday.