Dorchester fans voted with their feet at the Avenue Stadium last night following Saturday's woeful 3-1 defeat at the hands of fellow Conference South strugglers Maidenhead United.

Just 345 people turned up to watch an injury-depleted Magpies earn a deserved point in a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Havant and Waterlooville, with both second half goals coming from the penalty spot.

First Justin Keeler fired the hosts in front on the hour with Rocky Baptiste levelling, ten minutes from time.

In fairness, it was a foul night in the county town, but if Mark Morris' side are to avoid a season-long battle against relegation, the locals will have to start topping up the gate receipts before it's too late.

Despite a battling and much-improved display compared to the weekend, Dorchester desperately need to strengthen their squad although it's never going to happen on gates of under 500.

"I needed a response from my players," said Morris, "and I got one. I though we battled and worked really hard in difficult conditions and I probably would have taken a draw before kick off.

"Havant have been flying just recently and so a point against them is a decent return, especially considering all the injuries we're carrying in the squad at the moment. When problems arise like ours, there's a lot of clubs who could just go out and sign replacements to get them through.

"Unfortunately we're not in that position so we just have to roll up our sleeves, blood a few youngsters and get on with it."

One of those youngsters who impressed last night was rookie keeper Nick Jones who came in to replace the experienced Craig Bradshaw after he was rushed to hospital on Sunday with stomach pains.

"Nick's only 18," explained Morris, "and he's got a lot to learn. But he's come into the side and had a cracking game, pulling a string of real quality saves.

"I'm disappointed we didn't hang on and win the game after going ahead because everyone is desperate to get that first home victory under their belts.

"And we probably would have done had Gary Middleton not been penalised for what I thought was a straight 50-50 challenge which the Havant boy seemed to make a meal of.

"But there's not a lot of point of arguing about it now. That will only get me into trouble. You could argue that we rode our luck at times so I suppose it does all equal itself out in the end.

"What was pleasing was the performance compared to Saturday when we were truly awful. That's important and gives us plenty to work on."