Dorchester Town boss Callum Brooks revealed a half-time team-talk in which he told the Magpies to believe chances would turn into goals proved crucial in the 3-1 triumph at Hendon. Matty Harriott’s 18-yard strike put Brooks’ men 1-0 down on nine minutes after Charlie Davis saw a penalty saved, but Dorchester continued to press and saw Jack Hoey and Tom Blair denied.
Following Brooks’ words at the break, Weymouth loanee Hoey scored on 47 minutes and netted twice more to seal a stunning hat-trick in his second game for the Magpies, who ended a run of four straight league losses.
Dorchester’s second victory of the season came on the same weekend in which midfielders Sam Lanahan and Dom Panesar-Dower left the club, Brooks wielding the axe on both men.
Brooks felt the win had been “dominant, exciting and powerful”. “To be honest, we could’ve been ahead at half-time. We missed the penalty, Tom missed a one-on-one with the keeper. “There’s always that niggle of where we haven’t been getting the rub of the green – is it going to be one of those days?
“At half-time, we were in a position where we had 45 minutes of football ahead of us against a team where we were creating chance after chance. It was a case of stand up, be counted, deal with their physicality of balls into the box.
“You have to have the belief that chances are going to start going in. The first chance we had in the second half was more of a half-chance.
“Jack gets across his man, scores a wonderful header and you’re up and running. Every attack we had you could see the belief coming into the side. “It ends up being a dominant, exciting, powerful performance and a huge three points. The trick is now to go and build on that again.”
Brooks reiterated his certainty that the Magpies are a talented side lacking in confidence. “This group needs to start believing how good they are. When they put their foot on it, and we’ve seen glimpses, the little bits of football turned into a result. We could’ve won by four or five goals and it wouldn’t have flattered us. When we moved the ball around their area, made clever runs, trusted our footballing ability we created chances at ease.
“My challenge to the group is there’s no limit to what they can achieve, but they’ve got to start believing how good they are.”
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