PHIL Simkin has insisted his players can “get physical” if they need to.

The Magpies’ boss made the claim ahead of his side’s trip to Biggleswade Town tomorrow (3pm) and on the back of a bruising midweek encounter in the Southern Premier League.

Simkin felt Dorchester were the victims of some overly physical tactics against Chippenham on Tuesday, and admitted afterwards his men could have dealt with their opponents’ approach better.

But, looking ahead to the game in Bedfordshire, the Magpies’ chief said: “We have got the players to get physical if we need to.

“Chippenham were the first side we’ve come up against this season that have performed like that.

“I thought they were a decent side but the way they went about things on the pitch wasn’t great.

“It’s not what we have been used to having played in the Conference South for a good few years.”

Ben Joyce (hamstring) is likely to miss out again tomorrow but Simkin will be hoping he can recover in time for Monday’s derby clash with the Terras.

However, that fixture isn’t in Simkin’s thoughts now.

“I’m not even thinking about that at the moment,” he said. “We’ll just see what state we are in on Saturday night and go from there.”

Magpies (from): Walker-Harris, Hanger, Buckley, N Walker, S Walker, Smeeton, Gleeson, Crittenden, Agbo, Cann, D Smith, S Smith, Lanahan, Godfrey, Brookes, Murphy