DORCHESTER Town manager Craig Laird insisted that his gameplan “was working perfectly” until King’s Lynn scored the first goal in their 2-0 win at the Avenue Stadium in the Evo-Stik Southern League Premier on Saturday.

Laird had set the Magpies up to be resolute against the Linnets, who now have three wins from three, before planning a late attack in the final 15 minutes of the game.

The county town side’s boss told Echosport that he had formulated his plans due to the visitors’ shape and fluid style.

He said: “We knew King’s Lynn were going to be a good side, they’re free-flowing and they play a certain shape. We know where we are ourselves in the pecking order and they’re above us at the moment.

“We set ourselves up with a shape that we thought would frustrate them and I think for 42, 43 minutes we did and our gameplan was working perfectly.

“We were counter-attacking and probably with a little bit more quality we might have been able to snatch a goal. And then we gave away a poor goal. Callum (Laird) did really well to win the ball back and then just gives it back and Sam (Lanahan) went diving in to give the penalty away.

“We had a gameplan, we wanted to frustrate them and then maybe with 15 minutes to go at 0-0 we could then adjust our shape a little bit, stick another striker on and maybe go and try and win the game and nick it at the end.

And Laird admitted he didn’t change tactically after the second goal to ensure his side remained in the game.

“At 2-0 it’s always a struggle and we didn’t want to get battered, we didn’t want to just change our shape straight away and all of a sudden it’s three, four, five goals.

“So we wanted to make sure we kept a tight shape and then in the last 15 minutes have a little go at it, maybe get one and we might get another.

“We weren’t going to get one or another with 40 minutes to go. We had to make sure we didn’t concede a third goal, so that was really important,” he said.

“We kept a good side down to 2-0, but that wasn’t our objective, our objective was to try and get a point and draw the game 0-0 or try and win it 1-0 or 2-0.

“Unfortunately with the two individual errors that we made, the one in the first half and then Bowlesy getting turned too easily in the box in the second half scuppered those plans we had.

“I think if we had a bit more about us we would have been able to get at their back four because they looked a little bit vulnerable at the back, but we haven’t got that firepower,” he added.