DORCHESTER Town must win the war of Havant & Waterlooville if they are to come away from West Leigh Park with three points tomorrow (3pm).

That is according to manager Roy O’Brien, who was given a few nice selections headaches ahead of the match after several fringe and under-18 players impressed in Wednesday’s 7-2 win at Verwood Town.

The Magpies beat Havant at the Jewson Stadium in a seven-goal thriller on September 8, and O’Brien is hoping for more of the same.

“We have got to start brightly,” said the county town outfit’s manager. “We know their strengths and weaknesses and we know how to compete against them.

“We’ve already played them and know it will be a battle – we proved at our place that we are up for that.

“It’s like going into war, we know it’s a crucial game. We’re a few wins away from being well away from the bottom but only one loss away from being in real trouble.

“I don’t want to harp on too much about it, but this is a big game.”

Dorchester, who are seven spots below the 11th-placed Hawks in the Blue Square South standings, defeated Saturday’s opponents 4-3 back in September.

Ryan Moss bagged a brace that night before being harshly sent off while Ivan Forbes, now at Havant, and Matt Groves also made their way on to the scoresheet.

However, the Hawks have proved extremely difficult to beat at home in recent times and have only lost once at West Leigh Park in the league since Dorchester beat them 2-1 on December 6, 2008, courtesy of goals from Jamie Mudge and Jamie Gleeson.

But wins have also proved hard to come by this campaign and Havant’s seven home league games have only produced eight points for the Hampshire side – one win, five draws and a 2-0 loss at home to Basingstoke. Dorchester’s form on the road was nothing short of horrific after losing all seven away games this season before last Tuesday’s triumph at Maidenhead – their first league win on the road since that triumph at Havant last year.

“It takes the pressure off when you do get an away win, but this Saturday is a different game so we have to focus on ourselves and believe,” said O’Brien.

Nine changes were made to the side that thrashed Verwood 7-2 on Wednesday, with many under-18s imp-ressing on the night, and O’Brien expects them to become more involved. “The lads who played didn’t look out of place which was very pleasing,” said Magpies’ boss.

“I’ve seen the under-18s play a few times and the more experience they can gain through training and playing with us, the better.

“The lads did fantastically well and will be training with us again this week and so will hopefully be more involved in the coming months.” Nick Crittenden (ankle) and Kevin Hill (foot) remain long-term absentees, but O’Brien expects to have an otherwise fully fit squad.

Magpies (from): Coward, Jermyn (c), Lavers, Selley, Walsh, Vickers, Devlin, Gleeson, Moss, McCollin, Martin, Costa, Groves, Barnes, Symes, Montacute, Nodwell, Bowles, Barnes, Mitchell.