DORCHESTER Town “deserves” to be in the National League South, star striker Tom Bath insists.

The Magpies have struggled for victories in recent Southern Premier South seasons, escaping relegation last campaign, but there is now a renewed sense of optimism.

After a second successive league campaign was curtailed due to Covid-19, the FA will meet tomorrow to rubber-stamp the cancellation.

And Dorchester staff have used the break in play caused by lockdown to give the Avenue Stadium a major facelift, featuring a newly refitted main stand adorned with fresh black seats.

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On the pitch, Bath hailed the appointment of Robbie Herrera as manager and believes the Magpies can make serious progress under the ex-Fulham and QPR left-back.

He told Echosport: “Previous times will tell you that they’re a big club, but naturally clubs go down and then come back up.

“The club has ambition to go back up, whether it will be in the next season or the season after, I think it deserves to because of the facilities.

“It deserves to be in the league above, if not more.

“You’ve got some great people at the club who work tirelessly. The players like myself want to play the highest (level) they can play.

“Robbie, he wants to progress in management as well. He’ll want to get us up the table as quick as we can.”

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With the infrastructure in place and Herrera favouring a possession-based style of play, Bath feels the time is right for the Magpies to fly up the standings.

He added: “The reason why I joined was because it’s a big non-League club.

“It shouldn’t be where it is. It still is a big club and it’s down to the players as much as anyone.

“Under Robbie we can get a natural progression and look to move on.

“I feel like it should be next season. The way we were training before this lockdown, the club is getting there.

“I’ve enjoyed my time at the club and I was scoring goals. At the end of the day we’ve got to win football matches.

“We haven’t won many since I’ve been there, but hopefully we can pick up some wins.

“I can only see Dorchester moving forward.”