NICK Crittenden has urged the Dorchester Town squad not to let all the hard work they have put in this season fade away in the run-in.

The Magpies, who have been praised for their philosophy of blooding exciting youngsters this term, suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat at Kettering in midweek and have sealed just one win in their last four games.

But the Magpies’ assistant-manager insists the county town squad will go positively into tomorrow’s clash with St Neots Town at the Avenue (3pm) in a bid to get back on track.

Reflecting further on Tuesday’s defeat to the Poppies, Crittenden told Echosport: “We still created chances and there were a few positives to take out of the game.

“We said to the boys after Tuesday night’s game ‘don’t keep your heads down, don’t sulk about it’. We need to pick ourselves up and go again.”

He added: “When you think about all the hard work and all the good results that we have had this season, they have by far outweighed the bad ones.

“We have got to say to the lads ‘don’t let all that hard work go to waste’ because, at the moment, we haven’t achieved anything until that last game of the season.

“We have a lot self-belief within the dressing room. Myself, Mark (Jermyn) and Stuart (Heath) have a lot of belief in the players’ ability and we think we can achieve whatever we want.

“As well as we think we have done up until now, in the last two or three months of the season we have to do better.

“We are hoping to progress that little bit more, pick up an few extra points than we would have done earlier in the season, and see where we finish.”

After missing out in midweek, defender Chris Dillon is expected to return to the Dorchester squad against the Saints.

Charlie Davis is suspended as well as suffering from an ankle injury and Neil Martin is likely to be ruled out once again with a hamstring problem.