ALAN Walker-Harris has given his approval to the Magpies’ pre-season schedule this summer following the blow to morale caused by last year’s programme.

The Dorchester Town keeper will be involved in the club’s home friendly with Truro City tomorrow (3pm), their final outing before the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division starts next Saturday.

An 11-0 hammering by Bournemouth and 9-0 thrashing at the hands of Yeovil last summer cast a shadow over Dorchester’s preparations for the 2014/15 campaign.

And while they have played Yeovil Town, Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle academy teams in the build up to the new term, Truro will be the highest-ranked senior side to have faced the Magpies during this pre-season.

“I don’t think the club wanted what happened last season to happen again,” he said. “It’s hard to work on a game plan when you don’t have the ball against the pro sides.

“It’s nice to play them but it backfired badly last season.

“This summer has given us the opportunity to work on how we are going to play this season.

“The management have got a clear idea of how they want us to play so we have got to bring it all together.

“We’ve mixed things up a bit in pre-season and that has been good for the lads – there has been a nice variation in what we’ve done.”