MAGPIES’ boss Mark Jermyn has revealed how practice paid off for Ben Watson during last Saturday’s defeat of Histon.

Watson scored Dorchester’s second goal in their 2-0 victory over the Stutes, and it came just days after Jermyn had worked on a specific exercise in training to improve his team’s finishing.

“I try and simplify it,” the player-manager told Echosport. “I just get two yellow cones, put them on the inside of the posts and that’s their target area.

“With Watto recently, he has been getting his shots away but they’ve been going directly at the keeper.

“I’m not going to profess that’s why he scored but on the Thursday night we were just looking at hitting the inside of the post, as opposed to the central area of the goal.

“One of the things I said to Ben was that he just needed to move his feet a bit quicker and look for the post rather than the centre of the goal.

“In the game he turned and swivelled and did pretty much what we did in training.

“Because he has got such a low centre of gravity he is able to swivel.”

Watson’s strike against Histon was his fourth goal for Dorchester since returning to the Avenue.

And Jermyn is glad to see the former Truro and Bideford frontman getting the rewards for all the hard work he is putting in.

“I’m pleased for Ben,” he added. “He’s 29 years of age and I can’t tell him how to play striker, he’s had a good career.

“But I can comment on his play and give him feedback as to where I think he can improve, which I do for everybody else.

“What we’re trying to do is keep him in the central areas.

“Even though he is quite small he is our lead striker and he’s not going to score goals for us in the channels.”

Former Magpies’ boss Graham Kemp, who has been named as Ian Chalk’s successor at Wessex League side Bemerton Heath, brought Watson back to Dorchester in January.