DISMAYED Dorchester Town boss Callum Brooks illustrated his disappointment at the Magpies’ failure to build on their 1-0 lead over Tiverton following a late 2-1 defeat to the Yellows on Saturday.

Tom Bath’s 50th-minute goal against his former club put Dorchester in front before a swift equaliser from red-hot Jared Lewington three minutes later.

Lewington was on hand in the 90th minute to inflict a cruel defeat on the Magpies, who have now gone four games without a BetVictor Southern Premier South victory.

Speaking to Echosport, Brooks felt Dorchester could have “kicked on” from Bath’s early opener.

He said: “To the point of going 1-0 up it was an ideal away performance – very, very good. After going 1-0 up we never kicked on from there.

“It’s one of the worst things in football when you put in so much effort-wise and defensively and you’re sitting on a good point away from home.

“It wasn’t snatched away us, they gradually wore us down.

“When we went 1-0 up it wasn’t good enough. We let them back in very easily.

“What you’re seeing is where we’ve been on the wrong side of results from some poor performances, there’s that extra anxiety when you’re sitting on a point.

“There’s almost that element of a little bit of panic because you’re so desperate to get some points on the board.

“We demonstrated plenty of bravery with regards to winning headers, last-ditch tackles and competing.

“What we really needed when we were 1-0 up was to put our foot on the ball and take the sting out of the game to give us the platform to move on from there.

“We didn’t keep it enough from there and it kept coming back.

“It’s disappointing but the points will come as long as we keep doing what we’re doing.”

But Brooks paid credit to Tiverton, who moved top of the league after Poole completed a 2-0 FA Cup third qualifying round win over Tooting & Mitcham.

“They’re absolutely flying,” Brooks admitted.

“We competed with them, we caused them problems and there’s a frustration because the positive moves I’ve made have raised the expectancy.

“The reality is we’ve got to be in these fights before we start winning them. We were right in it up until the end. We strongly feel we should have had a penalty with the last kick of the game as well.

“Nick Hutchings (goalkeeper) was up, we had all our bodies up, Struggs (Dan Strugnell) received the ball, nicked it round their player and their lad’s cleaned him out.

“Players will come in and say they’ve been fortunate but I’ve got 11 players who are adamant we should’ve had a penalty at the end.”