DORCHESTER Town manager Steve Thompson insisted a 0-0 draw at fellow Evo-Stik Southern Premier South strugglers Chesham United was a “good result”.

Thompson’s men dominated a first half in which Ben Seymour won a contentious penalty and subsequently saw his spot-kick saved by Generals’ keeper Ben Goode.

Chesham improved after the break while Antonio Diaz narrowly missed the target three times as Dorchester recorded their second goalless draw of the season following a stalemate at home to Merthyr in November.

Speaking to Echosport after watching his side earn a 24th point on the road this season, Thompson admitted his view of the penalty, for which Seymour was alleged to have dived, was far from perfect.

He said: “It’s hard, it’s a long way from me. I’m not sure what happened, but they were incensed by it, so they obviously thought it was a dive.

“At the end of the day, that doesn’t concern me. What does is how we work and how we play. I thought we worked very, very hard and played well without having the final ball or the finish.”

Chesham’s players are also alleged to have scuffed up the penalty spot out of sight of referee Thomas Cooke, but Thompson felt Seymour’s strike was pure enough to negate any supposed divot on the turf.

He said: “I didn’t see (the alleged scuffing) but some of our players on the bench and coaching staff saw it. I obviously shouted out at the ref, but from when I looked at it, that didn’t happen.

“Apparently it did before. (Seymour) struck it well enough, it wasn’t like the scuff made him not strike the ball well.

“The ball was struck very hard to the keeper’s left, so the keeper dived and made a very good save.”

Seymour missed the chance to add to his tally of 13 goals for the season, but Thompson refused to be critical of the teenage striker given his contribution this season.

And commenting on the Magpies’ performance, boss Thompson also focused on the positive aspects of his side’s showing.

He said: “I thought we worked very hard. It’s probably a fair result. (Chesham) are a team in good form, they’ve only lost two out of the last 12. With that in mind, it’s probably a good point.

“We edged the first half, they might have just edged the second. It was a very even game against a team in good form.

“It was always going to be a tough game and that’s exactly what it proved to be. I thought we worked very hard, we defended very well.

“I’d have liked us to have created a little bit more. But it’s a decent result, it keeps us above them and there’s a real dogfight going on at the bottom.”

Coming off the back of a 6-0 drubbing against Farnborough on Tuesday, Thompson revelled in keeping a fourth clean sheet of the league season – the Magpies’ eighth in all competitions.

“It’s hard when you’ve conceded a massive defeat like that, 6-0, to then go and keep a clean sheet,” he said.

“We did it last time when Chesham beat us at home 5-0, we managed to reply with a 1-0 win against Hungerford and we kept a clean sheet again.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to get the winner.

“Obviously the penalty will be talked about, it was a good penalty, very well struck, very well saved by the keeper and we’ve come back with a point. It’s a good result against a team in form.”