DORCHESTER Town chairman Scott Symes is excited by the Magpies’ fresh style of play ahead of their season-opening home clash with Weston-super-Mare today (3pm).

Under boss Leigh Robinson, Dorchester have adopted a faster, more energetic philosophy and added pace in key areas through a number of new signings.

Symes is consequently optimistic ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.

He told Echosport: “There’s a grit, athleticism, there’s pace – not just going forward.

“That’s really promising and you speak to fans, volunteers and they see a vast difference in the type of play this season.”

Symes also praised Robinson for his approach since taking over in early January.

He said: “I spoke to Leigh when he first came in and we were in a precarious position in the league with 11 games to go – we will always sit here and say we scraped (survival).

“That’s gone and done now. Leigh came in with an idea and we’ve spoken a lot about what was here before, what I observed and what others observed from a footballing perspective.

“We’ve all come to an agreement of what we need to move forward on the pitch. By the looks of it he’s starting to really put that together.”

Symes also thanked the Magpies’ community for donating thousands of pounds to help sustain the club amid lockdown, with up to 600 paying fans now able to attend today’s match.

He said: “The donations are great and any money coming into a non-league football club is welcome.

“The utility bills don’t stop and the loss of revenue from the 3G pitch – we had some big events planned.

“One thing it has done, and I’m sure it has for many businesses, is you start to really look at what you spend the pennies on.

“We’ll come out of Covid a lot more financially savvy.”