FRINGE players can stake a claim when Chickerell United welcome higher-league Gillingham Town to Weymouth College tomorrow (1.45pm).

Boss Brendon King is set to make wholesale changes to the side that beat Portland United on Saturday for their Dorset Senior Cup second round tie.

Scott Oliver and Josh Evans will both start, while Warren White, Sam Clarke and Richard Marshall-say all have niggles and could be rested.

Irrespective of the aforementioned trio’s fitness, King sees tomorrow’s encounter as the perfect opportunity to thrust those on the periphery into the limelight.

He said: “We are at home and I will field a side that is definitely capable of winning the game, even though I’m going to make some alterations. A few of our guys have got knocks so this is a good time to give them a break and let others come in and show what they can do.

“The lads I’m bringing in won’t weaken the side and they proved at Bridport in the first round that they are more than capable of stepping up to the plate.

“The beauty of our squad is that when players are injured or unavailable we have people who can come in and do a job. What some of them need to get is consistency and if they do that they will give me a headache.”

Free-scoring Gillingham currently top the goal charts in Toolstation Western League Division One, where they have lost only twice all season.

Despite admitting the Dorset Premier League is his priority, King believes he will be able to gauge his players’ progress by how they fare against the Gills.

He added: “It would have been good to have kept the league run going but the Senior Cup is prestigious and we are playing a side in a league above us.

“Gillingham are decent and have scored 40 goals in 13 games so they will pose an attacking threat. This will be a good yardstick to see how far we have come.”

Meanwhile, Chickerell’s appeal against a three-point deduction for fielding an ineligible player has been rejected by the Dorset FA.

Chickens (from): Weeks, Daniels, Oliver, Reader, Anstey, Welch, Clarke, Roper, Marshallsay, Doidge, White, Linaker, Etherington, Hall, Evans, Paice.

n The winners will have a home tie with Weymouth in the third round.