DORCHESTER Town manager Steve Thompson was delighted by the Magpies’ “hard-fought” 1-0 win over Kings Langley at the Avenue Stadium in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division.

Thompson’s men secured their fifth victory in six home league games courtesy of Tom Blair’s superb 24th-minute strike.

But the Magpies were indebted to veteran goalkeeper Chris Weale who pulled off several top-class saves late in the game to keep Langley at bay on a bobbly surface that inhibited both teams’ passing.

Speaking to Echosport after the game, Thompson was pleased to come out on top of an “entertaining” game.

He said: “It was very hard-fought. The last three home games have been 1-0 – two in our favour, one against us. It’s very hard to create lots on the pitch.

“I thought it was an entertaining game. Both teams had chances, it was end-to-end. It wasn’t really a low-scoring game in many ways.

“I think both teams really showed an attacking force and there were lots of corners in the game, lots of crosses and it had everything for a 1-0.”

Thompson also paid credit to the Kings, who came close to equalising on numerous occasions in the last quarter of the game.

He said: “They dominated the last 20 minutes and they’ve had some good results. They’ve picked up a lot, they’ve got a few new players in.

“They look a decent team. They drew with Slough, drew with Kettering, so it’s a great win in that respect.

“It’s obviously very nice to win at home again but it was a long last part of the game where I thought it was never going to end. The whole team dug in.”

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He added: “I would have liked us in the second half to have a bit more of a threat. I thought we started OK for the first 20 minutes and did look a threat and looked like we could go and get the second and maybe put the game out of their reach.

“But when that didn’t materialise they came very strong and they’ll be disappointed that they’ve come away with nothing and probably rightly so feel that they deserved a point.

“I felt we were the better team in the first half and created a few chances without too many clear cut ones. It was a great win, very hard-fought and it’s very hard to play fluent football on the pitch at the moment.”

Reflecting on 18-year-old Blair’s well-taken goal, Thompson felt “three fantastic bits of play” were on show.

He said: “(It was) three fantastic bits of play. The diagonal ball from Ross (Carmichael) – a great ball and then a great touch and then a one-touch finish to the corner – a tremendous goal.

“If you’re going to get a goal to win it, that was very worthy of a good game.

“I think (Tom’s) played quite a lot of game time under me, probably not as much as he would have liked. He’s young, I’m not even sure if he’s 19 yet. He’s learning all the time.

“He’s a good prospect, he’s got good pace, he’s decent in the air for a wide man. If he can improve his game knowledge and game intelligence, which comes with experience, I feel he could turn into a very good player.

“It’s great for him to come in, play 70 minutes and score the winning goal.”