THRILLED Dorchester Town manager Callum Brooks admitted there was no better feeling in football after a 94th-minute own goal propelled the Magpies to a 3-2 Evo-Stik Southern Premier South win over Walton Casuals.

Dorchester opened up a 2-1 lead as Harry Kite and Antonio Diaz netted either side of a James Ewington strike, before Cole Brown’s penalty levelled the scores at half-time.

It was then left to Kyle Egan’s driving run and cross to force the decisive own goal.

A potentially pivotal three points elevated the Magpies into 12th, eight points above the drop zone with Brooks leading a revitalisation that has gained 10 points and eight positions from his four games in charge.

Even the most optimistic of Magpies fans will now observe a nine-point deficit to the final play-off position with six games left – although any hopes of fifth place seem farfetched.

But Brooks was quick to bask in the delight of securing a third successive triumph.

He told Echosport: “When you’re on the right side of games like that, you’ve got to enjoy it.

“I don’t think there’s a better feeling in football, to be honest. To win a game like that, in a way, is more satisfying than beating someone 7-1.

“We really had to dig deep at times and the lads, credit to them, had energy and desire to work hard and be brave on the ball.

“They’re desperate to win games, that stacks the odds in your favour sometimes and we’ve scrambled one over the line late. It’s a huge three points.”

He added: “It’s all heading in the right direction. We’ve been taking it in bitesize chunks game by game. We’ll enjoy this and then we’ve just got to remember what’s winning us matches at the moment.

“It will be a good week’s worth (of work) followed by another monumental effort on Saturday.”

Brooks referenced Casuals’ desire to take three points as a signal of how big the win was.

He said: “They had a lot of energy and fight about them. You would expect nothing less. There’s no easy games at any level.

“When you’re coming away to teams fighting for their lives, you could sense from an early stage that there was a desperation about the opposition.

“It was clear they felt they had to go and win the game. So you’re going to have to stand up against that energy and we did.

“Then, if you get your base right and dig in through difficult times, we’ve got quality in the group that will always create a chance.”

He added: “We should’ve put a couple away in the first half, we missed three clear-cut chances.

“I felt we were too open in the first half. We asked the lads to be a little bit tighter in the second half knowing that we would nick a chance.

“It didn’t have to be in the sixtieth minute, it could be right in the end – and that’s what happened.

“We didn’t concede in the second half which I was really pleased with.”