DORCHESTER TOWN 0

HAYES & YEADING 0

(abandoned after 35 mins)

HIS side may have only played 35 minutes of football last night but Magpies’ manager Phil Simkin was pleased with what he saw.

Although the clash with Hayes & Yeading ended up being abandoned, Simkin still felt he could take some positives from the curtailed encounter.

The Dorchester chief would have been looking for a reaction following Saturday’s 4-0 reverse to Dover, and that’s what he thought he got in a little more than half-an-hour at a sodden Avenue.

“In a strange way that has galvanised us,” he said. “It hasn’t been a bad thing.

“A lot of good things came out of that for us and sometimes, out of those situations, good things happen.

“Playing football in this country is all about adapting to the pitch, the weather and the opposition.”

Simkin was particularly pleased with Bournemouth loanee Charlie Losasso playing just behind central striker Warren Byerley.

He added: “I thought they battled hard and Charlie did well.

“His job was to play in behind Warren and also pick up their number four in midfield and I thought he did that very well.

“It’s not a pitch for someone to run with the ball and he’s someone who runs with the ball.

“He struggled on Saturday because the pitch was poor and he couldn’t carry it. I felt a little bit sorry for him but he did well tonight.”

Simkin had made two changes to the Magpies’ side that started Saturday’s defeat to Dover, with Ryan Case coming in for Calvin Brooks at right-back and Jack Twyford replacing Dan Munday further forward.

Brooks and Twyford dropped to the bench and Alex Godfrey, who wasn’t involved against Dover, was among the substitutes as Elliot Ward missed out.

With the conditions as bad as they were, the game was never going to be a spectacle for the hardy souls that braved the elements to watch it.

But the players got down to it and Hayes’ skipper Dean Inman had the first effort on goal with a shot that Alan Walker-Harris gathered at the second attempt.

And at the other end, it was Losasso who tried his luck with a shot that flew well wide of the target.

The visitors had the ball in the back of the Dorchester net around 12 minutes in but Inih Effiong was correctly flagged offside.

The same player escaped the clutches of the Dorchester defence minutes later only to blast over from the edge of the box.

Effiong nearly opened his account when Jake Smeeton was sent sprawling by the slippery surface and then the Hayes’ striker flashed a shot across the face of goal seconds later.

With the rain falling as hard as ever, Losasso found the target with a free-kick from 25 yards but Hayes’ keeper Jamie Young dealt with it relatively comfortably.

But with 35 minutes gone and following discussions with both captains and managers the referee decided enough was enough.

Magpies: Walker-Harris, Case, Colmer, Jermyn, Smeeton, Lanahan, Crittenden, Gleeson, Losasso, Byerley, Twyford. Subs not used: Munday, Way, Tennant, Godfrey, Brooks.

Hayes: Young, Mills, Everitt, Williams, Wassmer, Inman, Tieku, Merrifield, Effiong, Johnson, Wishart. Subs not used: Mitchell, English, Gearing, Hippolyte, Ruiz.

Referee: Adrian Quelch (Christchurch)