WITH his troops set to begin their assault on the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division, Magpies commander-in-chief Mark Jermyn admitted a trip to Bovington Camp “was just what we needed”.

The Dorchester squad were put through their paces at the British Army military base, while Jermyn’s charges also got to spend time bonding as a unit before the season starts next Saturday.

As well as that, the county town players and management team were shown around the barracks and spoke with those serving their country on the front line.

“One of the reasons for doing it was to get the players together outside of the club environment,” said Jermyn of the Magpies’ overnight stay.

“The lads have spent a lot of time together already during pre-season but not so much off the field.

“We wanted them to spend time with each other away from football but also have the chance to put in the hard graft.

“They are going to be relying on each other throughout the season and going to Bovington brought them closer together as a group.

“A number of the lads have been together in the squad for a while but we have a few new guys who are finding their way within the group.

“I want to say a massive thank you to Bovington Camp for putting it on for us, everything they did was beneficial.

“It’s always good when you get to spend time with people who are on the front line.

“We got to speak with people who really are fighting for their lives.

“There is that cliché in football about going into battle but these guys really are doing that.”

He added: “Certainly since I’ve been at the club we haven’t done anything like that and it was just what we needed.

“Stuart Heath put on training for us with the Army and the players had a good bonding session as well.

“We had three training sessions in about 24 hours and we were also shown around the barracks.

“It was great because we don’t generally get a chance to do things like that.

“Unfortunately the game with the Army on Sunday was called off but we’re hoping to rearrange it.”

Dorchester now have just one pre-season match left before they kick-off their league campaign at home to Histon on August 8.

The team’s final summer friendly will be against Truro City at the Avenue this Saturday (3pm).

The usual smattering for former Magpies and Terras are expected to feature in the Truro squad as White Tigers boss Steve Tully prepares his players for life in National League South after promotion last term.

Commenting on what will be happening at Dorchester in the build up to that clash, Jermyn said: “In the next week or so we’ll be looking to do more work on set-pieces, our shape and patterns of play.

“We also need to continue to see what players are available as we haven’t finished with that yet.

“We need to make sure we recruit the right players and get the most out of our finances.”