DORCHESTER Reserve boss Rich Robson is keen to use Billy Mitchell as a role model for the rest of his team after he led them to a 7-0 victory over Bournemouth at the Avenue stadium.

Mitchell has had a run with the first team squad of late and Robson is keen to use last night’s hat trick hero as an example to his young squad.

Robson said: “It helps having a lad like Billy in the side who’s been with the first team over Christmas His fitness levels are still very high and it helped to lift up the team.

“I think one or two players are ready to make the step up to the first team. We’ve seen Billy do it but it just depends on what positions Craig is looking for, but I feel that one or two from the field of play could definitely step up.

“An example is Simon Proffitt, not just in this game but all through the season has been an absolute rock at the back and a brilliant organiser. He’s great at motivating the team and all the lads respect him so he’s been absolutely outstanding.

“He’s been a fantastic captain for us this year and I can’t give him enough plaudits.”

First team manager Craig Laird has openly expressed his desire to bolster his first-team squad and Robson has thrown the gauntlet open to his youngsters to make a positive impression.

He said: “The main thing is to bring as many youngsters as we can through the side and give them as much experience in these competitions as we can. We’ve had some first team players leave recently so there might be chances coming up.

“Now’s the time to get that experience so that they’re ready when the chance comes.

“With Craig coming in he took his first training session last week and what he’s keen to do is have a lot of match practice, and to get an 11 vs 11 practice we have to include the reserves in there so they’re going to be constantly exposed to him, he’ll be exposed to them and so they will have lots of chances to impress.

“He’s seeing them in training and seeing them in games so there will be chances coming up, and it’s only going to improve them training with better players.

“This is the place to be to try and step up and improve themselves as players.”

Robson’s comments comes after a stellar performance from his side in their first game since the festive break, and Robson says he is over the moon.

He said: “I was really pleased with the lads and the effort they put in. Although we won 7-0 I did think we were a bit rusty because we haven’t had many fixtures over the Christmas period so I was a little bit tentative going into the game.

“We started slowly but we grew into the game more and more.”

Bournemouth appeared shaky in possession but Robson was keen to credit his players for implementing his system.

He said: “What we look to do is play our own way, and that includes pressing very high so we like to put teams under pressure. We gave them very little time on the ball in their own half which caused a bit of panic and that shakiness.

“To be fair they weren’t too bad on the ball, and they wanted to be in the game as much as we did but I think we just put that bit of pressure on them and that’s down to the hard work we’ve put in to develop this style of play. It surprised me how well they did that coming back after Christmas.

“Our build up play could have been better at times but we pressed hard so I was chuffed with that.”