MAGPIES’ chief Phil Simkin was left to contemplate on how his side never found the net against Arlesey Town on Saturday.

In the 1-0 defeat, Dorchester spurned a number of opportunities and the manager believes they should have had the game sewn up by half-time.

He told Echosport: “We battered them quite frankly, it was absolutely unbelievable, they never really looked like scoring.

“The game should have been won by half-time, we had more than enough openings to score but we didn’t.

“Their keeper played out of his skin, which they all seem to do against us, even a draw wouldn’t have been a fair result, we should have won comfortably “Everyone is desperately disappointed, it’s not the start we wanted but the performance was very good.”

Cherries’ loanee Mason Walsh had to limp off early on with heavy strapping needed on his ankle, and will be assessed over the coming days.

Midfielder Jamie Gleeson was also unable to take his place in Simkin’s squad for the game, which the county town boss then confirmed was due to illness prior to kick-off.

Simkin added: “He (Gleeson) was not too well, he has a bit of a bug about him, the coach trip up didn’t help so we decided against it.

“We cannot play that well and not get a result again. I am fairly confident that we will go to Burnham and get a result tomorrow.”