DORCHESTER Town defender Keith Emmerson insisted the Magpies “had to be on their game” during an impressive 0-0 draw with Yeovil Town.

Emmerson cut a commanding figure in central defence as he nullified numerous crosses into the box, frustrating opposition ranked two divisions higher.

There were also standout performances from goalkeeper Harry Dillon, who made a number of key saves, Harvey-Joe Bertrand and Dorchester's two triallists.

While Yeovil were by no means at their best, Dorchester did not allow them to be as a hungry display full of desire spelled what was arguably the Magpies’ best 90 minutes of pre-season.

And Emmerson told Echosport how the pre-season friendly status of the game helped Dorchester play without pressure.

READ MORE: Dorchester Town 0-0 Yeovil Town - match report

He said: “It’s always a good test to play against opposition the likes of Yeovil, especially with the history they’ve got.

“It gives a chance for the younger lads to express themselves with no pressure. Nothing at stake, no points, just a bit of pride in front of a good crowd.

“The lads were up for it and you could see that in the performance.

“Having the changeover of players we’ve had with a lot of players coming in and a lot of exits, it’s taken time to get through.

“Hopefully the fans can see the finished product from the start of pre-season to where we are currently.”

Pre-match, assistant manager James Wood labelled the Yeovil game as a “test” and Emmerson felt his teammates came through without alarm.

“The difference is when you play teams like that you maybe concede a little bit of space,” he said.

“But when you play teams who are lower in the league there’s a misconception that you need to get out and assert our authority on games.

“When you play a team like (Yeovil) you’ve got to respect them, they’re a full-time outfit for a reason with full-time players.

“We had to be disciplined and everyone had to be on their game – it showed in our performance.”

READ MORE: Dorchester Town 0-0 Yeovil Town - how it happened

With Yeovil playing in the National League and Dorchester in the Southern League Premier, the distinction between divisions was not as evident as on paper.

Emmerson agreed, adding: “That’s quality to our players. With football, there’s always going to be that difference where you can see maybe fitness where people are training all the time.

“Unfortunately we don’t have that luxury, the lads have got full-time jobs so we’ll start to see that fitness towards the back end of the games where lower-league teams struggle because they’ve done a day’s work.

“Whereas professional outfits have got that for 95 minutes plus.”

For all Dorchester’s hard work in defence, the Magpies carried a threat on the counter.

“We’ll always have that,” Emmerson said. “When we’ve got the likes of Shaq (Gwengwe), Alfie (Stanley), we’ll always have that attacking threat.

“They will always cause defences to rush to them into mistakes and errors. They made sure that that back three for Yeovil had to work hard.”

Dorchester now move on to a Ridgeway derby at Weymouth on Saturday as part of the Dorset Fans Festival at the Bob Lucas Stadium.