DORCHESTER Town will be going all out to dent the title hopes of Skrill South leaders Bromley, and former midfielder Ashley Nicholls, at the Avenue tomorrow (3pm).
Nicholls played a part in Bromley’s 4-1 defeat of the county town club earlier in the season but this weekend sees him return to the Magpies for the first time since leaving last summer.
Dorchester boss Phil Simkin has always been a big admirer of Nicholls and was gutted to see him depart in the close season.
And he knows just how important it will be for his players to deal with the threats Bromley possess, including Nicholls.
“It will be nice to see Ash, he’s a great lad,” said Simkin. “He is a very intelligent lad and you can give him the ball in any tight situation and he will keep hold of it.
“He’s a Football League player playing in non-League football, and we’re dealing with a player of real class and quality.
“Everything goes through him, as it did with us, so we’ve got to stop the supply line, though that’s easier said than done.”
He went on to add: “We played them before Christmas and they beat us 4-1 but we are a considerably stronger side than we were then.
“We know it’s going to be a hard game but we will just give it our best shot.
“We know now that we are capable of taking points off anybody – we just need to do it consistently and get some sort of run going.
“I still believe we can do that. We have gone into more games this season as underdogs but we are going into them stronger than people think we are.”
Steve Walker returns from suspension for Dorchester and Fraser Colmer is available again, while it is understood there is a strong possibility that the loan deals of Warren Byerley and Nathan Walker will be extended.
Tomorrow’s clash is the second of three home fixtures in a row for the Magpies with Hayes & Yeading the opponents next Tuesday.
As for Bromley, they hold an 11-point lead at the top of the table and will be big favourites at the Avenue given their record of just one defeat in 14 league outings – 12 of those have been wins.
Magpies (from): Walker-Harris, Case, Smeeton, Jermyn, N Walker, Lanahan, Twyford, Gleeson, Crittenden, Byerley, Losasso, Munday, Makoni, Ward, Way, Brooks, S Walker, Colmer
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