THE sleepy East Dorset town of Verwood is fast gaining a reputation as a hotbed of football talent.

Local lad Matt Tubbs’s dream return to Cherries was greeted with approval in the town last week, but he is not the only Verwood-raised star playing in the Football League.

Southampton academy product Ben Reeves has impressed during his six appearances this season, including a very good central midfield display on his FA Cup debut at Millwall.

Now 20, Reeves has been with Saints since he was nine but also hails from Verwood. So, too, current Saints academy captain Corby Moore.

The Verwood production line does not end there. Burnley manager Eddie Howe was also reared in that corner of Dorset as was his brother Steve Lovell, the former Cherries and Portsmouth striker.

Not bad for a place with a population that would leave the average Championship stadium less than half full. There must be something in the water along the River Crane.

Howe, Tubbs, Reeves and Moore all came through Emmanuel Middle School, where Dean Bryant is the head of PE.

“Eddie was here before my time but Matt was in my first year seven group and already had a superb touch,” recalled Mr Bryant.

“Matt was a very talented boy and very focused on his football and it’s great that he’s back at Bournemouth, where he was at the centre of excellence when he was with us.

“He was an attacking midfielder at the time and very focused on his football. He helped us win the Poole & East Dorset Cup, but Corby’s year was the shining group.”

Midfielder Moore was the star of the Emmanuel side that won the south-west section of ESFA’s Minute Maid Cup, eventually going down to a brave 1-0 defeat in a national semi-final at the Madejski Stadium in 2006-07.

“Corby was also a very good cross country runner who ran for the county. He and Ben could run all day,” continued Bryant.

“They both had a great attitude as well as natural ability.”

Tubbs, Reeves and Moore also have close links with Verwood Town, enjoying a successful season of their own atop Sydenhams Wessex League Division One under boss Adie Arnold.

“I think there are a lot of good players in Verwood who haven’t had a lucky break but to have three from within a three-mile radius all playing at our nearest league clubs is amazing,” said Arnold, a friend of the lads’ fathers.

“I played for Verwood with Steve Tubbs in the eighties, with Paul Moore in the nineties and for five years Nigel Reeves was my assistant before taking more of a back-seat role so he could also support Ben,” explained Arnold, who remembers a young Matt Tubbs watching his dad play at Potterne Park.

He is delighted that the 27-year-old is back playing for Lee Bradbury’s side.

“I’m really pleased for Matt – he has always worked hard and been very dedicated. He has just had a few unlucky breaks until now, but this is a massive opportunity for him.

“Matt always had that ability to score goals. I could never understand why he didn’t get his chance earlier. He has always been good for 30 goals a season and I think he will do that for Bournemouth.

“It is just a shame he had to wait this long. He has shown a lot of character, scoring a lot of goals for Salisbury and Crawley, but he still finds time to come along and watch us even now if we’re playing when he hasn’t got a game.

“His dad is still very involved with the club. If there is a job that needs doing, he is the one we turn to. And Matt has told me he will play for Verwood when he is 40! I’ll hold him to that!”

Like Tubbs, Reeves and Moore played for Rossgarth Youth FC, which Arnold used to help run.

“Rossgarth is our feeder club with teams from under-6s right through to the under-16s,” he said.

“You could see Ben had a lot of talent when he was six or seven. Saints snapped him up at nine but he had a couple of years at Rossgarth. Like Matt, he was dedicated and worked hard and he always had a lovely left foot.

“I’ve seen Corby grow up from a baby, I was at school with his dad and his mum Karen has supported him a tremendous amount, running him all over the country.”

There are two years between Reeves and Moore, but they have rolled back the years this season.

“Ben was best friends with Corby’s elder brother and they all used to play football in the back garden when they were small,” recalled Nigel Reeves.

“But being in different age groups meant Ben and Corby didn’t play together much until recently, when they have been in the same Saints under-21 side.”