DORCHESTER Town boss Steve Thompson is in a “good mood” going into the Magpies’ clash at second-placed King’s Lynn in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division tomorrow (3pm).

Thompson’s men head into their third consecutive match with a top-five team when they travel to Norfolk to face the Linnets, who were usurped at the league summit on New Year’s Day by Kettering after their 1-0 loss to the Poppies.

But Dorchester earned a 2-2 draw against Weymouth and saw off Tiverton Town 3-0 last time out, taking four points from their difficult stretch of fixtures so far.

And Thompson is excited by the prospect of having a near full-strength squad to choose from in order to “do a job” against the former league leaders.

He said: “It Will be a tough game, but we’re hopeful with the way we’re playing. I’m hoping that I’ll have a full squad choose from.

Unfortunately last time we travelled a long way a lot of players were unavailable through injury or illness. I’m hoping we won’t get that again and I’m in a good mood going into it.

“It will be nice to get as many to choose from as possible to pick a team that I think will do a job.”

King’s Lynn have won nine of their 12 home league games this season, while Dorchester have only won one away league game in 13 attempts.

When asked about the Linnets’ home form, Thompson believes the distance travelled by some teams may have helped enhance their home form.

He said: “That probably does help. A lot of people travel quite a way to get there.

“That’s probably a helping factor but we have to take something from the Weymouth game when we played a team in the top three and got a good result, and we hope we can repeat that.

“I felt we played better on Boxing Day when we got the draw than we did on New Year’s Day when it was difficult to put a move together.

“But on that (Avenue Stadium) pitch we did put some good moves together which wasn’t easy when you’re getting a bobble near enough all the time.”

He added: “We ground in there in the first 15 minutes when they looked more dangerous, we dominated the next 70 minutes and we deserved the victory.

“We weren’t at our best but that’s credit to us. The last three team have been sent packing with three clean sheets and 13 goals so we’re doing something right there.”

Thompson is hopeful that Ross Carmichael will be available, while Phil Ormrod is a minor doubt after coming off at half-time with a leg muscle injury.

Elsewhere, Thompson confirmed that Antonio Diaz’s work experience loan has been continued past the winger’s initial month-long spell.

n Dorchester Town Reserves marched into the semi-finals of the John Stimpson Memorial Shield with a 5-2 away win at Basingstoke Town U21s.

A Sol Ayunga brace, added to strikes from Tom Bearwish, Jason Brookes and Elliot Parslow, helped Rich Robson’s side progress.