THREE points and a clean sheet meant it was just about the perfect start to the season for Dorchester Town and boss Mark Jermyn on Saturday.

The Magpies’ player-manager was quite rightly thrilled with his side’s 3-0 home win over Histon, who were put to the sword by goals from Tony Lee, Jonah Ayunga and Charlie Davis.

The solitary blot on the copybook was Ben Watson’s missed penalty but the result and performance delighted county town chief Jermyn.

“I couldn’t have asked for much more, I was happy with everything,” he said.

“I think we can look back at the game and what we worked on in pre-season and know that it came off.

“But I said to the players afterwards that it’s only one game, the first of the season, and there is a long way to go.

“Having said that, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pleased, and it’s nice to get off to a winning start.

“We’ll be taking stock of a good result and more than that a really good performance, and we need to keep those performance levels going now.”

Going into more detail, he added: “One of the things that we’ve got to be aware of with our style of play is that chances might not come thick and fast.

“When we are probing teams and looking to sustain pressure we are waiting for that opportunity to come.

“Histon played well in the first half but had a lot to deal with throughout the second and I don’t think they could keep up with the pace.”

All of Dorchester’s scorers were recruited by the club during pre-season and Jermyn only had good things to say about each of them following the weekend victory.

“One of the things we identified with Charlie was that he should be setting his stall out to get a handful of goals this season,” he said.

“He scored a great goal on Saturday and I’m actually hoping he can reach double figures this season, that’s the type of player I think he is.

“We’ve got very high hopes for Jonah and he showed he is exciting to watch, and the fans got behind him.

“He is young and raw, and he knows what he wants and just gets on with it.

“He took his goal well, as did Tony, who has settled straight into the side and gets on with everyone.

“He gave the ball away a couple of times in quick succession during the game but kept winning it back.”

Meanwhile, Jermyn, whose men go to Cirencester tomorrow night (7.45pm), also paid tribute to Nathan Walker after the defender and former Dorchester captain joined Gosport Borough.

“There are certain things that Gosport can offer Nathan that we can’t at the moment,” admitted Jermyn.

“We wish him all the best and I’m sure we might see him here again at some point.

“For me, Nathan is a very good defender. I know he had a few verbal tussles with people last season but I would stand by him.

“He’s a good guy outside of football and on the pitch just wants to win.

“Sometimes last season frustration came through but certainly when I was here he conducted himself well.

“He is one of those guys the boys like having around but when he is around they wish he wasn’t.

“He did well for us on the pitch last season and played out of position in quite a few games.

“When he played in his natural position he looked great.”