DORCHESTER Town boss Steve Thompson admitted he is aiming to make improvements to the Magpies’ current attitude towards the importance of training.

Thompson, a former Yeovil Town manager and Woking number two, was appointed in mid-September after his predecessor, Craig Laird, resigned from his post following a 3-0 defeat to rivals Weymouth in late August.

And the ex-midfielder, who played under Martin O’Neill during a spell with Wycombe Wanderers, feels his task is more difficult without the benefit of pre-season.

He told Echosport: “Every game has to matter, and I’m not saying it doesn’t. I’ve had no problems with the attitude of players in the games.

“Where I do want to improve this club is in the attitude towards training and how important it is. There’s work to be done on that and we’re trying to get there slowly.

“A lot of that work you install in pre-season, obviously I wasn’t here then so it’s hard to install that until you get a pre-season.”

But in match situations, Thompson was satisfied that his players had been competing, naming only three matches as examples where he believed they had not.

“I’ve been delighted with the character the boys have shown in nearly all of the games. Sometimes we haven’t played well.

“We didn’t play well when we lost to Bishop’s Stortford and we didn’t play well against Hitchin or Banbury at home.

“There have been times when we didn’t play well but I don’t think it’s ever been through a lack of effort,” he said.