Eddie Mitchell

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Ground rules may be a lifeline for Town

No surrender

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Magpies 'to stay pros' if relegated

by Howard Milton

Dorchester Town will look to remain full-time if they are relegated from Blue Square South this season.

So says club owner Eddie Mitchell as the Magpies' 1st XI battle to avoid the drop to the British Gas Business Southern League Premier Division where they could come up against the likes of Yate Town, Swindon Supermarine and Banbury United.

Dorch have won only once since September in the former Conference South and are entrenched in the bottom three.

Mitchell said: "We will do our utmost to get as many of the 21 available points as we can.

"When it is mathematically impossible for us to stay up we will look at the situation but there is no point in giving up until that is the case.

"But we are trying desperately to get all the points we can.

"Relegation would be a big blow when I consider what I set out to do here.

"We would have to work harder at our finances but we would like to stay a full-time club and would look to bounce straight back.

"We would have to negotiate with the boys we have got here.

"It has been my aim to improve this club and not the opposite and I think if we unravel what we have started it will be the wrong thing to do.

"Relegation would not be a disaster for the club though and would not be the end of the world."

Dorch - who host Thurrock on Saturday - have released forward Tom Clarke but are hoping to extend the loan of striker Nick Eastham.

Of assistant-manager Paul Compton's absence from the Magpies' game at Weston-super-Mare on Monday, director of football Shaun Brooks said: "He was doing what he came to the club to do - scouting."

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