DORCHESTER Town manager Callum Brooks insists he will afford Wimborne Town “respect” during a clash of the Magpies at Cuthbury in the Southern League Challenge Cup first round tonight (7.45pm).

Brooks’ comment was made in relation to team selection, with Dorchester set to rest Tom Blair (foot) and Callum Rose (neck) who have both played with minor injuries in recent games.

With Dorchester’s squad numbers not big enough to make “wholesale changes”, Brooks is aiming to use the contest as a momentum-builder for the Magpies’ BetVictor Southern Premier South campaign.

Speaking after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Swindon Supermarine, he told Echosport: “We’ll go and have a go at the game, it’s a game we’re looking forward to.

“We’ve not got the squad where we can make wholesale changes. Where we will look to change it is just with the injuries we’ve been carrying.

“Tom, the only movement he had from his shin down was his toes. He’s been strapped up an unbelievable amount of times.

“Where we can, we need to look after players who’ve been playing through the injury barrier for us.

“Other than that, we’ll look to build on Saturday. It’s not going to be a dead game, we’ll treat it properly, treat Wimborne with the respect they deserve and hopefully we can build on the belief we gained.”

Brooks is keen to ensure Dorchester can snowball their momentum for longer than they have achieved this season.

“That’s one of the things we’ve struggled with,” conceded Brooks. “Every time we’ve got momentum, something’s happened and we’ve then had to claw it back.

“We felt we turned a corner after the four defeats, then we changed the shape when Neil Martin was unavailable.

“Momentum’s massive in football and this season’s been very much stop-start. We’ve played catch-up, so if we’ve got the opportunity to gain momentum we’ll do it.

“We’ve got to hope the injuries clear up and they always say luck with referees and decisions evens itself out through the course of the season.

“If that’s the case, ours is definitely going to improve because it’s been one thing after another.”

However, Brooks expects right-back Kyle Egan (knee) to be out for between two to three months after sustaining a minimum grade one tear of his medial collateral ligament.

Tom Purrington (ankle) and Luke Winsper (foot) remain doubtful, while Weymouth loanee Jack Hoey last week had surgery on his broken arm.