midfielders Jamie Gleeson and Nick Crittenden will not be a part of Phil Simkin’s squad for their pre-season trip to Willand Rovers tomorrow (3pm).

The experienced duo picked up slight knocks in Dorchester’s 5-1 victory at Bridport on Tuesday and as a precautionary measure, Simkin has decided to rest his two star men, who are not expected to travel to Devon for the encounter with the Western League outfit.

Simkin told Echosport: “Jamie took a knock on his knee on Tuesday night and we will be resting him tomorrow. It’s not bad, but there is just no point in risking him in a friendly.

“The same goes for Nick Crittenden, he took a knock so we won’t play him either.

“We are playing quite a few games in a short space of time and it’s not the sort of thing you take any chances with, they are big players for us so it’s just not worth it. We have other players in the squad that I need to look at as well.

“Willand will be a decent side and they will make us feel welcome, it’s usually a good surface and it will be a good day.”

Simkin claimed that this year’s pre-season schedule has been a valuable lesson to him about his current crop of playing staff.

“I have learnt an awful lot about pre-season and a lot about the players’ characters this week,” he added.

“As far as we are all concerned last Saturday is dead and buried now.

“The main thing is that we have some really good match fitness and it’s all about the run-in for the first game.

“People make too much of pre-season results, we have played some good sides. We still have Yeovil to play and that is where you find out about players.

“I feel we have a good squad, it isn’t big enough really but if we are lucky with injuries I see no reason why we shouldn’t have a decent season.”