DORCHESTER Town were still left searching for their first home Blue Square South win after being held by Welling United.

The Magpies gifted the Kent side a 32nd minute lead when skipper Kevin Hill inadvertently headed into his own net.

Although a superb equaliser set up by Jamie Gleeson and executed to perfection by Jamie Mudge 12 minutes after the break put the county town side firmly in the driving seat, they could not break down the visitors’ defence a second time.

Magpies’ boss Shaun Brooks thought his side dominated the game at the Jewson Stadium but recognised that improving their strike rate was an area for immediate attention.

He said: “I think we were the better team. I can’t remember them creating a chance in the game.

“Obviously they got the own goal but I think we dominated nearly the whole game. A slight criticism would be that we didn’t work their keeper quite enough.

“We’ve scored 15 goals this season which is quite a low tally so we’ve got to work hard as a team and try to be a little more productive in front of goal.”

Brooks was confident that his side’s fortunes would improve as some of the injured players returned.

He added: “We’ve still got Jake Smeeton, Roy O’Brien, Wes Fogden, Gary Bowles and Ivan Forbes out and these are key players but again I thought that the effort and commitment that the players put into the game today was fantastic.

“We couldn’t find a way through and didn’t create too many chances against a decent side but I am sure that their manager will look at it as a well-earned away point and will be saying the same – we didn’t quite work their keeper enough.”

Brooks recognised that Hill’s own goal which gave Welling the lead was unfortunate.

He said: “It took a deflection, Gareth Stewart thought it was going to drop over the crossbar but it bounced off the top and Hilly got there first, as he always does, and he got a little push in the back and couldn’t get out of the path and its gone in the net.

“We are a bit disappointed because by and large we defend okay for set-pieces and it was their first real effort on goal.”

Looking ahead to this week’s games Brooks added: “We’ve got to take confidence from this game and take it on to matches on Tuesday against Bridport and next Saturday versus Havant & Waterlooville.

“We’re stronger away from home but we’re not a high scoring team. Defensively we’ve got 22 against which is not too bad – probably the best from mid-table downwards.

“As a team we just need to start doing a bit more in terms of opening teams up bit. We will work with the players in training and change the tactics now and again. At the moment we get in the final third and run out of ideas a bit.

“Roy O’Brien and Jake Smeeton are still a couple of weeks away but Wes Fogden might be available next weekend and Gary Bowles should be okay.”