Magpies Accepted To South West County’s

By Adam Summers Sports Reporter Western Gazette, 8^th June 2006

E-mail Adam. summers@westgaz.co.uk

Dorchester Town’s newly-formed under-18 side have been accepted into the Southwest County’s league for the new season 2006-07.

The move means the Magpies will be locking horns with some of the region’s top youngsters.

Under 18 General manager Phil Basford, said: “This is what we were hoping for. Had we not been accepted we would have been snookered because it would have been too late to apply for the Dorset under 18 league. Now we can start getting everything organised.

“I would have been quite happy to put a side in the Dorset County League if the matches were played on Saturdays. The fact that all the games are on Sunday afternoons, in that league makes it harder to get the commitment that we are after. The problem you get is that some lads play for pub sides on the Saturday and then turn up the next day not feeling their best after a night out or picking up an injury.”

“The South West County’s is a better standard and there are some very strong non-league teams in it like Newport County, Forest Green Rovers, Exeter City and Aldershot town.”

“For the players to develop, they need to be playing at the highest standard possible. Dorchester Town Reserves play in the Dorset Premier League but there is still a big jump between that standard and Conference South in which the senior side play.

“Trevor Senior who will be managing the playing side of the team, wants to take the first pre-season training session on 12 July and we have already had interest from players. I have heard, around Dorchester, people saying that the senior club are not interested in local players and all they get in is young lads from Bournemouth - but that not is not true.”

There is plenty of local talent out there and I hope our under-18’s will help bridge that gap and help develop players through to the reserve and the first team.