SATISFIED Dorchester Town boss Callum Brooks was “pleased” with the Magpies’ three points and a clean sheet following their 1-0 BetVictor Southern Premier South victory over Beaconsfield Town.

Dorchester went into the clash at the Clayson Stadium having lost their past three opening day fixtures against Kettering, Met Police and Banbury, but there was no sign of first-game nerves as Tom Blair’s unstoppable curling shot in the tenth minute proved sufficient for the win.

And Brooks’ pleasure stemmed as much from the incorporation of pre-season focal points as it did the result.

He said: “You go through your pre-season programme trying to implement certain things, building players’ game time and working on ways you want to play.

“Before you know it, you’re bang into the results-based football where the only thing that does matter is the result.

“We were the right side of three points. I’m pleased to be up and running and we look ahead now.”

Brooks described the curtain-raiser as a “lottery” – magnified by a strong wind.

He said: “I thought we started the game well. The first game of the season is usually a lottery so you don’t know what you’re going to get.

“We knew that our group was in good shape but I imagine most teams feel they’re in good shape.

“Added to that you’ve got the swirling wind which made for a really random game of football.

“You just go back to your base of work, we were very confident we selected the right starting XI to go into the game with.

“We had our gameplan and we could sit there confident we’ve covered as many bases as you can in pre-season and we’ve got our lads up to a good level.

“Then what you need is something to come off and what we’ve got out of Tom is we’ve got a bit of magic.

“He’s scored an unbelievable goal which then gives you an advantage in the game so then you can look at managing the game and you’ve got more options available.

“It was great to get up and running with an early goal and from there we’ve managed to see the game out with some difficult moments in the second half.”

Beaconsfield piled on the pressure during the final 20 minutes but Brooks was delighted with the Magpies’ work ethic in keeping the Rams at bay.

He said: “Our shape in the first half gave us a platform for winning the ball back and then our ‘easier on the eye’ football.

“Everything we did in the second half was geared towards seeing the game out. Shane (Murphy) made an outstanding save.

“Other than that, I don’t remember them getting behind us. What they had was a lot of balls into the box, which we were prepared for and we partly allowed because we decided to bring on an extra defender and defend our box.

“We felt we were capable of defending our box and getting over the line for 1-0.”

Dorchester visit Truro City tomorrow (7.45pm).