DORCHESTER Town boss Craig Laird delivered a scathing review of his side’s performance after their 4-1 loss at home to Evesham United.

Laird believed the Magpies “played like strangers” and had “forgotten everything” that the coaching team had told them in a training session on Thursday evening.

He told Echosport: “We were poor, it was the worst I think we’ve played. We played like strangers.

“We’ve gone through drills, we went through it all, we walked through certain things and scenarios and it just seemed like the players had forgotten everything that we had coached them.

“Our quality was missing and a few players have played themselves into the side and a few players have played themselves out of the side. So going into the week we’ll train hard and hopefully that defeat will focus minds.

“Going forward, lucky enough for us, there’s nothing ever won or lost in pre-season, and the most important game now is on Saturday, and we’ll be working tirelessly again.”

But the Dorchester manager was quick to point out that the players were not solely at fault.

“You make your own luck and there’s no excuses, that wasn’t a good enough performance by all of us. Me as a manager, because I’ve picked the side, given the tactics and then the team employing those tactics wasn’t good enough and we all have got a lot of thinking to do.

“We’ve got to work on quality, our own personal battles, keeping our shape when we’re defending and being more clinical when we get our opportunities in front of the opposition’s goal.

“And for the players to carry instructions of how we defend corners, and not have one against three or two against three. How we mark for free-kicks, how we set up our own set-pieces for attacking corners and free-kicks and throw-ins.

The Magpies will be without Phil Ormrod for the start of the campaign, with the imposing striker set to have a groin operation.

There is also a fitness concern over winger Tom Blair, who injured his knee against Evesham.

Laird said: “Phil goes for his groin operation so won’t be able to play for the next couple of weeks.

“Tom looks like he might have stretched one of his knee ligaments, but it’s not what we want this time of the year going into the first game of the season, especially not having Phil and now to lose Tom as well is not really what we want.

“It just seems to be bad luck, which followed me a little bit from last year when we had injuries to key players at the wrong time.”