THE spirit within the Dorchester Town squad remains undiminished, according to boss Phil Simkin.

Morale was certainly tested on the weekend when the Magpies suffered a 5-0 thrashing at Boreham Wood.

But Simkin insists he and his players will not be dwelling on that result, with their attention now switched to the game against Dover this Saturday.

“It’s not a case of picking the lads up,” he said. “We know it’s going to be hard for us.

“We’re halfway through the season and we’ll keep battling.

“It’s not the first time we’ve conceded a few goals this season and it probably won’t be the last.

“But between those we are still capable of picking up points.

“One thing we’re not lacking in this side is spirit and everybody has seen that.

“Sometimes you come up against players that are better than you.”

Not having captain Mark Jer-myn and regular centre-half partner Steve Walker available on Saturday didn’t help Simkin.

And with Bournemouth loan star Jake McCarthy missing through injury, the Magpies struggled to find form at both ends of the pitch at Meadow Park.

“We lost our centre-half pairing through suspension and you can’t take that out of any side and not notice a difference,” he added.

“Ashley Vickers came in at the back and Jake Smeeton did really well alongside him, but against such quality it was difficult for us.

“They put us under a lot of pressure and could have scored before they got their first.

“We didn’t play particularly well. Certainly in the first half we didn’t do ourselves justice, but we kept plugging away and we’ll dust ourselves down and prepare for Dover on Saturday.”

Simkin was hugely impressed with Anthony Jeffrey and Austin Lipman, who are both on loan at Boreham Wood from Premier League giants Arsenal.

And, while he had a somewhat muted first match in Dorchester colours, Simkin expects his other own loan signing from the Cherries, Charlie Losasso, to come good.

“Charlie had a quiet debut,” he said. “It was difficult for him because it was difficult for us to get the ball to him.

“He did okay but has got a lot more to offer.”

The Magpies, who are set to have striker Warren Byerley available for their next league clash, remain at the bottom of the Skrill South table with 15 points from 21 games.