DORCHESTER Town manager Steve Thompson conceded the Magpies “need a result” ahead of their Evo-Stik Southern Premier South derby with Poole Town at the Clayson Stadium tomorrow (3pm).
Without a win since beating the Dolphins 1-0 at the Black Gold Stadium earlier in January, Dorchester has gone on to lose 2-1 to Barnet in the FA Trophy before losing 6-0 to Farnborough and securing a 0-0 draw at Chesham.
Consequently, the Magpies sit in 17th place but could draw level with Poole in 11th should the county town side overcome Tom Killick’s men.
Thompson told Echosport: “Poole won’t be happy that we went down there and stole the points, they’ll be very keen for revenge and we have to produce a good performance.
“We need a result at home – our away form is very good, our home form is poor – all I’m trying to do is something about it. As for the reasons, it’s very hard to put your finger on it.
“We played them only three weeks ago and it’ll be another very tough game. We need points – everyone needs points in the league.
“For various reasons, there’s not many teams that are not either involved in a play-off, automatic promotion or relegation race. Only Staines – everyone else has got things to play for.”
He added: “Poole are mid-table but they do have games in hand over most teams. If they won those couple of games in hand they would probably see themselves in seventh or eighth and with a very good chance of making the playoffs.
“People say they’re having a bad season but they will still be thinking about the playoffs, they’re in as good a position as a lot of teams.”
The fixture could present goalkeeper Nick Hutchings, striker Richard Gillespie and centre-back Brennan Camp the chance to face their old clubs.
Hutchings, in particular, was thrown his Magpies’ debut by Thompson against the Dolphins but the manager insisted that occasion was to take a closer look at the experienced goalkeeper.
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He said: “I’ve only seen Nick play once last season so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to watch him in goal.
“Other people have seen him a lot more than me that are at the club. It was an opportunity for me to see Nick in action and he did himself no harm at all with his performance.”
Gillespie (hamstrings) and Tom Blair (sickness) could feature but Dom Panesar-Dower (illness) and Josh Williams (sickness) are unlikely to play.
