MARK Jermyn will heavily rotate his side ahead of tonight’s Dorset Senior Cup clash with Portland United at the Avenue (7.45pm).

The Magpies won 3-1 against Barnstaple Town on Saturday playing their full strength team and the manager is willing to give opportunities to those who didn’t play in that game.

Talking to Echosport, he said: “There are stipulations that would affect the reserve team if we were to pull a lot of them across because they have a cup game coming up as well.

“It will be the case of rotating the team we had against Barnstaple. Joe Lea will come back in and I will play the players who can play through any knocks if they pick one up.”

The last time Jermyn rotated his side, it led to a 10-0 defeat at the hands of Salisbury in the League Challenge Cup and the boss, like that game, wants his players to come through it unscathed.

He added: “It’s (the Dorset Senior Cup) not the be all or end all for us this season. It is paramount that we protect the squad. I don’t want the Salisbury thing to happen again but, looking back, hopefully people can see that we didn’t have much of a choice.

“I’ve learnt my lesson there but, we won’t be starting our XI from Saturday.”

Others that are likely to feature in the contest are Billy Mitchell and Jordan Mullis.