PHIL Simkin was immensely proud of the way his Dorchester Town side pushed Skrill South high-flyers Eastleigh all the way yesterday before succumbing to a 2-1 home defeat.

A heavy loss looked a possibility for the Magpies when Jai Reason doubled Eastleigh’s advantage just after half-time following Ben Strevens’ 21st-minute opener at the Avenue.

But, cheered on by a crowd of more than 600, Simkin’s team fought back and Josh Wakefield found the net with a brilliant curling effort on the hour to give them hope.

And even though they didn’t manage to force a draw in the end, the boss was more than happy with the performance his players delivered.

“Eastleigh put us under so much pressure in the first half an hour it was like playing against a League side,” he said. “They play at a quicker tempo and it took our lads a little while to get used to it.

“They could have had three of four in the first half, but they didn’t, and we survived it.

“They have got such good players and it was always going to be difficult for us, but I thought we kept Stuart Fleetwood reasonably quiet.

“It always looked like they were going to break and score a third early in the second half but then I thought we were likely to get an equaliser at the end.”

He added: “This season won’t be over for us if we keep putting in performances like that.

“That performance would have been good enough to beat most sides in this league.

“We did our best, it wasn’t quite good enough, but we put in a great effort.

“Unfortunately, you don’t get points for performances, you only get them for wins.”

Simkin was also delighted with the way both Fraser Colmer and Clive Makoni performed in Dorchester colours for the first time.

Colmer started the game at left-back, with stand-in captain Jake Smeeton moving to centre-half, and Makoni was a second-half substitute for defender Ryan Case.

“I thought Clive looked sharp when he came on and Fraser had an excellent debut as well,” said Simkin.

“If Fraser can shine against Eastleigh he’ll be alright for me and it means I can move Smeets into midfield if I want to.”

The defeat leaves the Magpies at the foot of the table but they will get another chance to climb off the bottom tomorrow when they go to Weston-super-Mare (3pm).