Ashley Vickers

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Dorchester boss eyes 40th

Ash is focused on survival

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Magpies in search of new training facilities

by Ky Capel

Dorchester Town boss Ashley Vickers is hopeful the club will find new training facilities in time for next season.

The Magpies currently train on the Avenue Stadium pitch and Vickers admits the twice-weekly sessions are taking their toll on the county town surface.

With the possible return of a Dorchester Town reserve side next term, the Magpies’ manager is keen to have alternative arrangements in place.

He said: “We are looking for a new facility for next season and the chairman Shaun Hearn has got a couple of things in the pipeline. We have the use of the TA Centre but the lighting is poor and the pitch is not great when it’s been raining.

“We want to use somewhere in Dorchester next season. We had hoped to have an arrangement with Thomas Hardye to use their facilities but those plans have not come to fruition.

“Our pitch does take a battering as a result of the training and it makes the groundsman’s job very hard, but he does ever so well to get the pitch ready for games.

“We make sure we do our running off the pitch but we have to use it for Training search pattern play and training games and that can take its toll.

“The situation will imp-rove when the weather gets better but it does look like we’ll be training on the pitch for the rest of the season.”

The state of the Avenue Stadium turf has done little to halt the Magpies’ recent run of form, which has seen them go eight home matches without defeat in Blue Square South.

Dorchester, who host Woking this Saturday, are now 12 points clear of danger but cannot afford to rest on their laurels.

Vickers added: “We want to get past that 40-point mark and we’re two wins away now. We’ll keep plugging away in a bid to try and keep climbing the table.

“I’ve got high standards for the lads because I know what they can produce and I won’t give them a moment’s peace as we want to keep that winning mentality.

“We want to be looking ahead as opposed to behind, get to that safety mark and then look to next season.”

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