AS the Magpies prepare for one of their biggest games of the season, boss Mark Jermyn has commended the attitude of his players over the last fortnight.

Arlesey Town, the side immediately below Dorchester in the league, are the visitors to the Avenue tonight (7.45pm), with both teams desperate for points to move away from the drop-zone.

While the Bedfordshire outfit’s clash with leaders Poole on Saturday was postponed, Jermyn’s men secured a superb 2-0 win at Hungerford.

And player-manager Jermyn couldn’t be much happier with the response he has had from the squad since taking the reins after the defeat of Banbury.

“A lot of it is down to the enthusiasm of the players,” he said. “They have got to take a lot of credit having taken a lot of flack before.

“I take my hat off to each and every one of them.

“They are getting their rewards for the work they’re putting in.”

Looking ahead to tonight’s showdown, he added: “It’s my first game at home since taking over and I’m looking forward to it.

“People are looking at us now and thinking that we should win this game after Saturday’s result, but it’s not always the case.

“We want to be the driving force in the game and start it quickly, like we did the other day.

“We’ll go again against Arlesey and hopefully get some more points which will give us a bit of a cushion.

“We wouldn’t be out of trouble by any means but it would help us pull further away from the bottom of the table.

“Once we get that cushion we can really start to think about where we want to finish in the league this season.

“Everybody has got to be aware that we need to take small steps to get ourselves into a good position.

“And that’s not only for this season but next season as well.”

It was way back on the opening day of the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division season that the sides met previously.

Arlesey edged a tight contest 1-0 on that occasion but, like Dorchester, the Blues have struggled for the majority of the campaign.

Jermyn isn’t expected to make any major changes to his squad for tonight’s six-pointer, with loanee Bradley Tarbuck set to play in front of the Dorchester faithful at the Avenue for the first time since arriving from Portsmouth.

Magpies (from): Walker-Harris, Lanahan, Murray, Jermyn, Smeeton, Dillon, Smith, Morgan, Gleeson, Tarbuck, Brookes, Walker, Watson, Oldring, Hanger, Murphy