DORCHESTER Town boss Glenn Howes will not “shy away” from the “hugely important” next 10 games for the Magpies – beginning with Swindon Supermarine at home tomorrow (3pm).

Howes’ men were last weekend plunged into genuine relegation trouble as the worst-placed of the four third-bottom sides in the four Southern League divisions.

As it stands, Dorchester and the bottom two clubs in each of the four leagues will take the drop to Step 4.

And the enormity of the next month of fixtures, which sees Dorchester play all the clubs directly around them, is not lost on Howes.

Dorchester’s boss also revealed that, following the postponement at Farnborough, his squad had been afforded last weekend off in preparation to try and stay afloat in the Pitching In Southern League Premier South.

READ MORE: Charlie Madden exits Dorchester Town

He told Echosport: “It was nice to have a bit of recuperation. There’s still one or two players that probably won’t be ready for (tomorrow).

“But it allows us to prepare accordingly for the next 10 games which, we can’t shy away from, are hugely important for the club.”

Howes added: “We’re full of respect for Swindon, they’re well organised and have got really good results of late.

“They’re a robust Southern League side and do really well in terms of producing players.

“I’m sure they would’ve liked to have been higher up in the table but there’s just such fine margins in this league.

“It’s a strong and powerful league this year but we competed with them away and we feel like we can compete with them at home.

“It’s a really important fixture for us and a challenge we have to really embrace as a group.”

Dorchester’s home form has been significantly stronger at the Avenue Stadium than on their travels.

“We do enjoy playing at the Avenue,” Howes said. “There is a significant difference with respect to going and playing games at Truro and Hartley Wintney to playing on our 3G pitch with the style we produce.

“We feel a lot more comfortable at home, so it makes it even more important to do well with our home fixtures.”

Dorchester are hindered by the exit of versatile defender Charlie Madden and have major doubts over midfielders Tom Soares and Charlie Gunson, while Ben Symes is ruled out.

Tom Purrington, who played for Dorchester Under-23s in midweek, is suspended but Connor Callow and Ashley Guppy came through the same game.

Tiago Sa (ankle) and Thiago Caze da Silva (knee) are longer-term absentees.