BEN Watson is looking to form a potent partnership with teenager Jamie Reid.

The duo, already familiar with each other from their Exeter City connections, were first paired together in the Magpies’ final pre-season friendly at Wimborne Townm, where both men got on the scoresheet in a 2-0 victory.

And the strike partners combined superbly once more at the weekend with Watson setting up Reid for an injury-time winner on the opening day of the season.

Although neither forward found the net in Tuesday night’s defeat at Staines, boss Phil Simkin was still impressed with their efforts.

Reid may only be on loan at the Avenue Stadium but Watson is confident they can fire the Magpies up the Blue Square Bet South table.

He said: “Reidy is a great player. I know him from Exeter and the same goes for (fellow loanee) Jacob Wannell. They have come in and done well.

“I’ve been working well with Reidy in training. I’ll keep talking to him and I know he’ll work hard for me as I’ll work hard for him.

“We combined well at the end on Saturday and hopefully we can get some goals between us.”

Prior to the midweek loss in Surrey, Dorchester got the new campaign off to the perfect start, coming from behind to beat Eastbourne Borough – the side Watson left in order to join the Magpies.

The 26-year-old added: “It was good to get off to a winning start on Saturday.

“Obviously I want to score goals and although I didn’t manage one on Saturday, I was involved in the winner and it was great to get a win after being 1-0 down. It was a great feeling.

“It didn’t look like we were going to win but we stayed positive and we showed our character.

“We have built on working hard, sticking together and having a good attitude. I have come in and I’ve been very impressed with that, and our togetherness was there to see on Saturday.”

The Magpies, who travel to Farnborough on Saturday before hosting Bath City on Bank Holiday Monday, currently sit 11th after two games – the same position in which they ended the 2011/12 campaign.

Asked if the county town outfit can improve on their league standing this term, the hitman replied: “We just want to do as well as we can.

“Everyone’s hungry to do well and we’re very much together. There’s no reason why we can’t put a few wins together and do well this season.”