PHIL Simkin had to hold his hands up and admit his side were simply second best at Westleigh Park on Saturday.

In fact, the Dorchester Town manager said hosts Havant & Waterlooville were the best team his Magpies had come up against this season.

But, with Tonbridge Angels the visitors to the Avenue tomorrow night (7.45pm), Simkin knows his troops have to put the weekend’s heavy defeat behind them straight away.

And Simkin told Echosport that he hopes to add two new faces to his squad in time for their Skrill South clash with Tonbridge.

As for Saturday, the Hawks simply had too much firepower for a Dorchester side that had gone into the game with four points from their previous two matches behind them.

“They were far better than us,” said Simkin. “They are the best side we’ve played this season.

“Havant have got some very good players and, at the end of the day, they were better than we were.

“But we had a very young squad again and they would have learnt a lot from the experience.

“We were still in it at 2-1 but conceding on the stroke of half-time knocked the stuffing out of us a little bit.

“I couldn’t have asked for any more from the players. They all worked hard but found it difficult at times.

“We passed the ball very well but they just had too much power for us at set-pieces.”

With Gosport winning 2-0 at Concord Rangers on Saturday the Magpies are three points adrift of Maidenhead at the foot of the Skrill South table.

There is no need for Dorchester fans to panic just yet as four points covers the bottom six clubs in the division and tomorrow’s opponents Tonbridge are one of those teams.

“It’s a massive game for us on Tuesday,” added Simkin. “We missed Steve Walker on Saturday but he’ll be back and I’m hoping to bolster the squad before the game.

“One is a wide player and the other is a defender so it would be great if we could strengthen the squad in time for the match.”

Harry Bell (ankle) missed the Havant defeat and is set to sit out tomorrow’s encounter as well, while Jack Twyford’s suspension continues.

Meanwhile, a couple of other plus points to come from the weekend were full league debuts for Craig Michie and Alex Godfrey, and Jason Kennard got a taste of first-team football from the bench.