DORCHESTER Town are close to announcing the arrival of a new loan ranger.

The player in question is seen as an ideal strike partner for Ben Watson and manager Phil Simkin hopes to unveil the mysery man in time for Saturday’s trip to Bideford.

He told Echosport: “I’ve got a front player coming in on loan but I’m not sure when it will be done – I am waiting to hear back.

“Whether I can get it sorted for the weekend I don’t know but that is all can say about it at the moment.

“It’s apparent where our problem is and when he’s fit Ben will go a long to solving that. Hopefully this lad I’m bringing in will strengthen us as well.

“I thought we defended well against Yeovil on Tuesday and the midfield were excellent as well, but we can’t keep the ball up front.

“Having said that, we have been playing Football League opposition and they are stronger and fitter.

“If we can get it right up top and play like we have done recently when we come up against teams in our league we will be okay.”

Should the Magpies strike a deal for the unnamed forward, the chances of Jamie Brown making a permanent return to the club could diminish further.

Simkin added: “The biggest problem with Jamie is he’s going to find the travelling difficult from Fleet.”

The potential loan signing may also determine the future of a number of other county town trialists.

Defenders Frazer Clark and Charlie Clough, and midfielders Elliot Ward, Jon Vance and Lewis Morgan have all tried their luck in recent matches.

Clark and Clough missed Tuesday night’s 3-0 defeat to Yeovil but remain in Simkin’s thoughts.

The latter said: “Frazer was ill so he couldn’t play. Charlie is trying to find himself a club and we haven’t decided if we’re going to make him an offer or not.

“It all depends on the terms of the loan player we are trying to bring in.”

Reflecting further on the midweek loss to the Glovers, Simkin added: “I watched Yeovil destroy Plymouth 5-0 here on Saturday so I knew what we were up against, but I thought we did really well.

“Ryan Dovell battled hard up front, Ashley Nicholls was absolutely outstanding and overall I thought we passed the ball well.

“I was disappointed with the second goal. You have to pick and choose where you play and it was perhaps a little bit of inexperience on Harrison Bell’s part.

“I was particularly pleased for the trialists. Jon Vance had a solid 45 minutes, Lewis Morgan, an ex-Yeovil trainee, came on and did well and I was pleased to give the young lads Danny Way and Josh Tennant more minutes as they have been very patient.”