DORCHESTER Town boss Glenn Howes has issued a rallying cry to the Magpies, urging them to “push on” against Wimborne Town this evening (7.45pm).

Both teams come into the Magpies derby off the back of wins, Dorchester having beaten Kings Langley 2-0 and Wimborne having seen off Weston-super-Mare in the FA Trophy first round.

Wimborne’s situation in the Pitching In Southern League Premier South is more precarious, James Stokoe’s men sitting bottom of the pile.

Dorchester, in 18th, are nine points and four places above Wimborne in the table – and Howes is seeking victory to avoid undoing the good work of Saturday.

He told Echosport: “That’s what I don’t want to do. I really don’t want to take one step forward and two back.

“Now we’ve really got to push on and kick on. Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to get bumpy along the way – you never have a smooth trail in football.

READ MORE: Dorchester Town sign winger Billy Stedman

“We’ve just got to keep producing what we’ve done – full of endeavour – and I think we should be all right.”

He added: “The more managers I speak to, the more teams I see at this level, there really isn’t much between any teams.

“The footballing gods sometimes are on your side. Irrelevant of where people are in the table – and I include us – I’ve got full confidence we can cause anybody problems in this league.”

When put to him a victory would increase the gap to Wimborne, Howes replied: “That would be nice, we would enjoy that.

“You don’t go from where we are in the table up into the top half overnight. You’ve just got to chip away. You can’t get carried away.

“The favourable matter at the moment is that you can take points off teams in and around you.”

Howes revealed he knows a “fair amount” about the Wimborne squad but stressed the need to focus inwardly in the build-up to the game.

He said: “I know little bits. We played against them last year before the league was locked down and there haven’t been too many changes.

“In terms of individual details there are a lot of players that travel from the Southampton area. We know a fair amount and they probably know more about us.

“Sometimes it’s irrelevant what you know about the opposition, you’ve got to deliver what you’ve got to deliver.

“First and foremost, we need to get ourselves organised, firing and producing.”

Dorchester’s Charlie Madden is expected to be fit after coming off injured against Kings Langley, as is winger Flavio Tavares.

Dorchester have also added former Coventry City winger Billy Stedman to their ranks.