Dorchester'S decision to allow Conference neighbours Yeovil to use their Avenue Stadium means the Magpies have been given a tough run of away fixtures when they start their new Dr Martens Eastern Division promotion campaign next month.

When the league fixtures were published yesterday Mark Morris' side discovered that for the second season running they will open with a long trip. Last season they began with a 1-0 defeat at Rothwell and this year they travel to Lincolnshire to play Spalding United on Saturday, August 17, and face five away games in their first eight fixtures.

"We had to get permission from the Southern League and Dorset Combination for Yeovil to have first choice of fixtures because the Conference ones are published before they start work on our division," explained Magpies' secretary David Martin.

"We can't both be at home together until Huish Park is ready and as a result we have a slightly tougher looking start than might otherwise have been the case. But the amount of money involved in the groundshare makes it too great an opportunity to miss and it might not be a bad thing to get some of these trips out of the way early."

Relegated Newport IoW provide the opposition for Dorchester's opening home league game on Tuesday, August 20.

Their Boxing Day fixture this year is at home to New Forest neighbours Bashley and on New Year's Day they visit Fleet Town who have been promoted from the Jewson Wessex League.

The Magpies' season ends with the visit to the Avenue Stadium on May 3 of King's Lynn, the former Premier Division outfit they beat in the final of the Dr Martens Cup last season.

* Yeovil's Huish Park, which suffered severe drainage problems last season, is not expected to be ready until mid-September at the earliest and they anticipate playing half a dozen games at the Avenue Stadium.

However any delays in the work to improve the pitch could extend that. With the Glovers scheduled to play Woking at Huish Park on September 24 in a game due to be televised live on Sky, Dorchester will not be too unhappy if that happens as they would share in the television fees were the game to be played at the Avenue Stadium.

Weymouth meanwhile kick off their Premier Division campaign at home to Stafford Rangers on August 17 before travelling to South Wales two days later to take on Newport County.

The Terras then play three of the league's newcomers in their next four outings - August 25 Dover Athletic (A), 31 Grantham Town (H) and September 4 Chippenhan Town (A).

Boxing Day sees them travel to former Terra Martyn Rodgers' Tiverton Town with Bath City visiting the Wessex Stadium on New Year's Day.

* Weymouth have made an undisclosed bid for Salisbury City's Tyrone Bowers, Whites' boss Ken Cunningham-Brown revealed today.

The midfielder was a regular in the side during new Terras manager Geoff Butler's reign at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.

Bowers is one of a number of contract players who have been asked to take a pay cut by the cash-strapped Wiltshire outfit following their relegation to the Dr Martens Eastern Division at the end of last season.

Cunningham-Brown said: "We've had an offer from Weymouth for Tyrone and if he doesn't agree to change his contract then we will probably sell him."