PHIL Simkin is getting ready for a recruitment drive at the Avenue with his squad set to be hit by suspensions in the new year.

The Magpies’ chief is targeting “one or two” new signings after his side picked up three red cards in the 3-0 defeat at Weston-super-Mare on Saturday.

Bans for Clive Makoni, Mark Jermyn and Steve Walker won’t come into affect for a fortnight but Simkin knows he has to find cover for the trio.

Makoni and Jermyn were dismissed for two bookable offences while Walker received a straight red for what his boss labelled a “horrendous” challenge.

“It was a very bad tackle and he fully deserved to be sent off – I don’t know what he was thinking of,” he said.

“There are going to be players out through suspension now and how long Steve Walker will get I don’t know.

“We’ll have to deal with it and try to find some replacements.

“The suspensions won’t come into affect for 14 days so we’ve got a bit of time to get one or two in.”

Meanwhile, Josh Wakefield’s loan expired after the loss to Weston but Simkin is hopeful that Bournemouth will renew the deal in time for the trip to Eastleigh on Wednesday.

Defeat in Hampshire would cap a disappointing festive period for Dorchester, made worse by Saturday’s events at the Woodspring Stadium.

Goalkeeper Alan Walker-Harris took to Twitter following the game to apologise to the fans that made the journey to Weston, describing his team’s performance “an absolute disgrace”.

For Simkin, the quicker the club moves on from it the better.

He added: “We were hoping to get something out of the game but we didn’t so it’s no good crying about it.

“We’ll move onto the next game against Eastleigh and we are more than capable of getting something from that.”