DORSET’S musical talents reaped 100 points and 11th place in Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Re-formed band Blue, featuring Blandford’s Duncan James, briefly topped the leader board in Dusseldorf with I Can, a song co-written by Ashley Cross musician, Liam Keenan.

But as the night wore on, the UK’s entry was overhauled by X-Factor favourites, Jedward, who represented Ireland, and eventual winners, Ell/Nikki, from Azerbaijan.

Liam, who watched the competition at a party at his mother-in-law’s house in Broadstone, told the Echo: “Blue did the best they could. You could tell it was important to them. You could see it in their performance.”

Blue’s tally was significantly higher than last year’s UK entry, which finished last with 10 points, but some way short of replicating the nation’s last Eurovision victory, which came courtesy of Katrina and the Waves in 1997.

Azerbaijan won by a comfortable margin, walking away with the coveted trophy after picking up 221 points from the five-strong judging panel and phone and text votes from a TV audience estimated at 120million people.